Tyler Keith

They are critically acclaimed and still working day jobs. Left behind in an era in which rock is no longer king. Succumbing slowly to the pressures of turning 30, and girlfriends who want them to get serious and find real jobs. "That's kinda what The Lights Are Getting Dim is about," says Neckbones guitarist Tyler Keith, referring to his band's latest Fat Possum release. "You know, like in those old westerns, when somebody's been shot." He slips for a moment into an accent straight from a Hollywood back lot. "The lights are gettin' dim. It's like, we're fading away."

Is it really that tough for an indie band to make ends meet in the age of global markets and e-commerce? A band as kick-ass as The Neckbones? Ask any of them, and the answer's yes. "Your girlfriends are like, 'What are you gonna do? You gonna do this forever? You gonna be a broke mother-fucker forever?'" complains Tyler Keith. Lead guitarist Dave Boyer says The Neckbones' music simply doesn't fit any market niche. "We're not hard enough for a hardcore-type audience, and we're too hard for some other audiences." Drummer Forrest Hewes paints a particularly black picture. "The world's against you" is how he sums up the band's reality.

Meanwhile, what the quartet has been laying down for nearly a decade is some of the best rock 'n' roll heard anywhere since a certain band from Queens, New York bid the world adios. It's not trendy, mixed with hip-hop or backed by a symphony orchestra. It's gritty, punky rock on the order of ... well, they've been compared to everyone from the Stones to the Dead Boys to Chuck Berry. Richard Hell is in there, too, and of course The Ramones who are heroes to at least one Neckbone I spoke to. Their closest musical contemporaries are artists like Memphis garage-rockers The Oblivians and alt-country favorites Wilco, two bands whose members lent a hand on The Neckbones' latest disc. As with their 1997 release Souls On Fire, critics are fond of The Lights Are Getting Dim, and anyone who's witnessed one of the band's searing live performances will rave like the Internet chatter who labeled them "the best garage rock group I can think of that's still together".

So, why aren't more people paying attention? Not aggressive enough for the new millenium? Song titles like "Dead End Kids" and "It Ain't Enough" and lyrics like "I got a new future with my cardiac suture" will tell you there's no shortage of angst in the Neckbones' garage. But: the music isn't gloomy. At live shows, audiences are encouraged to shake their boogie legs. "You want people to have fun," says Dave. "I like to connect with people," adds Forrest. Maybe The Neckbones' fatal flaw is that they're a nice bunch of guys.

Forrest Hewes, Dave Boyer and Tyler Keith all met about seven years ago in Oxford, Mississippi, home to the University of Mississippi, John Grisham and the alternative blues label, Fat Possum Records. Fat Possum specializes in the raunchy, whisky-soaked Delta blues of people like R.L. Burnside, T-Model Ford and the late Junior Kimbrough, all African-Americans sixty and upwards. But in 1997, The Neckbones found their way into Oxford's Money Shot studios with Big Country guitarist Bruce Watson, who as producer has been responsible for shaping Fat Possum's distinctive no-frills sound. They came out with the exhilarating Souls on Fire. That sixteen-song Album covered some traditional rock turf (cars, girls, frustration) and some less traditional (see "Crack Whore Blues"), with each of the three founding members taking turns on vocals. With 1999's The Lights Are Getting Dim, The Neckbones expanded their sound to include piano, organ, fiddle and steel guitar on various cuts. They also decided to honor one of their labelmates, T-Model Ford, with a cover of his "Nobody Gets Me Down." (A sound byte: "I been shot. I been cut. Nobody gets me down.") The Neckbones see it as an anthem of survival. "That's the true life of T-Model Ford. He's had a harder time than anybody I've ever met," explains Tyler. "And it doesn't get him down. He's fuckin' survived, you know? We don't do it like he did or anything, because we're white and not very good at the blues. But it works."

In Europe recently, for the first time on a double-bill with T-Model, the band was pleased to find crowds receptive to both their sound and that of their "adopted grandfather." (Ford is a 78-year-old phenomenon: a toothless, Jack Daniels-swigging ex-con who's found musical glory in old age. When last sighted, he was getting more action than you, me, or any of the people mentioned in this article.) Forrest Hewes sees parallels between The Neckbones and the other Fat Possum artists, despite the obvious differences. "T-Model, R.L. (Burnside) and all those guys are playing raw, good, pure music. I hope that's what we're trying to do, too. We've done tours with rock bands like the New Bomb Turks and The Humpers, and those have been really the same crowd, strangely enough. Maybe some more kids, more gutter-punks or whatever." And are there differences between playing Europe and playing back home? In the U.S., says Tyler, "people don't come out to shows as much. They take it for granted or something. People our age, late twenties, don't go out. They have kids and shit." Forrest: "The crowds over here seem to be more into rock 'n' roll than back in the States."

Still, The Neckbones know they're fighting an uphill battle. No matter the continent, hip-hop and techno have captured the imagination of a generation and created hard times for rootsier rock 'n' roll bands. (I should point out that The Neckbones are not one of those "throwback bands with goofy suits and big, hollow-body guitars," to quote drummer Forrest.) From Memphis to Moscow, more kids are lining up at discos than to see flesh and blood musicians playing real instruments. That fact sets Dave Boyer's blood boiling. "The music that's popular now, it's that kind of music that in ten years, people are gonna be like, what was that crap? What were we thinking? There's a little bit of it that's good, but 95% of it is crap." Tyler Keith, an intense individual to begin with, gets almost as loud discussing this as he does talking about his newest discovery, author Knut Hamsun. "It's unpopular for the first time in its history. And I don't get it! The emotions of rock 'n' roll ... it's real, you know what I mean? Teenagers are more into hip-hop, or bad metal, like Korn, and pseudo-rap-metal or whatever. I appreciate the fact that they want some aggression and that they can relate to the aggression of it. But there's no emotional depth."

For Keith, that depth comes from knowing the past, the roots. "I think you have to know the rules before you can break them. Most kids don't know Chuck Berry. I don't think you should be able to play rock 'n' roll if you don't know Chuck Berry. You can get away with just knowing Chuck Berry. But you have to know that much." Dave, his long-time partner and roommate, agrees. "If you really love music and listen to music a lot, you work your way back to the root of where it came from. We've all listened to newer bands. But more and more we've been getting back to where it came from. It's just so much better, you know?"