Joe Pug

Listen to "Hymn #101" from the Nation of Heat EP

Pug’s got a keening ragged-but-right voice that conjures Hibbing’s most famous son, with an added throat searing elasticity, plus the kind of caustic wordplay that feels like he dipped his pen in blood to write. On the rambling chorus free manifestos that make up his seven song debut EP, Nation of Heat, Pug takes aim at the military industrial complex (“Nobody’s Man”), the hypocrisy of baby boomers (“I Do My Father’s Drugs”) and his own romantic failings (“Call It What You Will”). It’s a bold wide lens approach for a songwriter so young, and one he appears to pull off effortlessly.

Listen to "Nation of Heat" from the Nation of Heat EP

With music this spare the lyrics inevitably take center stage and Pug’s are more than capable of handling the heavy lifting (“We got billboards for love and Japanese cars/It ain’t rare to hear the streetlights call themselves stars/The more that I learn the more that I cheat / I come from the Nation of Heat”). Nearly every line on here is a gem, with Pug’s irascible wit making his fiery indignation at the state of the nation sound fresh and far removed from any hackneyed peacenik grumblings.

Nation of Heat EP

Joe Pug's Official Website

Joe Pug's MySpace 

COMING UP: Joe Pug performs on Saturday, August 16^th with Will Tolle and Hojas Rojas (previously featured on Reveille) at the 400 Bar . 9 p.m. $5. 18+.