I was setting up some recording gear at a Plate-O-Shrimp show, and the person I was with recognized the harmonica player in the opening band as an old high school chum. They got to talking, and Rich – their singer/guitar player – asked me if I would record their set. I told him my price was a beer, and he bought me two. Then they proceeded to shred through an mind-blowing set of hyper speed-metal, Southern-fried Boogie, and raw t(h)rashy urban blues, that all bordered on some unholy swill of psychedelic skronk. That was my introduction to The Pushrods.
When Rich came over to my house a few days later to pick up the disc I mastered of their set, he told me that their harmonica player, Mike D., had just left the band, and he had to find a replacement. Naturally, the first thing out of my mouth was to tell him that I played harp, and I’d be into the gig. Once I passed the audition (beers and a couple of acoustic tunes at Rich’s apartment), I played more than a dozen shows with ’em in the next year, before I had to give it up in 2004, when I relocated to Alaska.
design: © 2003; Rich Peterson
Rich started the band a while back (2001?) while living in River Falls, Wisconsin. I’m not sure what line-up changes they went through before I met them, except that Dan had stepped in to replace a previous bass player, who I think played on their first CD, 4 songs, released in 2001, and that at one point, their drummer was Mike Franklin, who would eventually bring his stylin’ guitar prowess to Cal Hopkins’ Amish Armada, Death & Texas, and Kentucky Gag Order. In 2003, the band saw a change of guitarists, and recorded a second CD, The Lowertown Offensive. Rich also pulled double duty as vocalist in The Squabs, filling the spot left by founder Kevin Carroll [RIP]; Eric played guitar in Amish Armada, and Dan also played guitar in Big Bang Fury.
Playing in The Pushrods opened a few other doors for me as well – I found myself playing harmonica with Panel Of Experts, and on a couple of occasions, both bands would share the same bill. Additionally, The Pushrods once played a bill with The Summer People, which eventually led to me putting in a tenure with that group, after I had returned from Alaska, even putting in an appearance on their third album, Stranger Things Have Happened. Several times during that later period, I would also join various incarnations of The Squabs on stage, including Secret Six and Peggy Suicide. I also laid down a harp track in their studio for a song called “The Rev”, which turned up on their second album, Stick A Knife In It (Spotify, 2023).
The Pushrods shared a swanky practice space in Lowertown St. Paul (above Ryan’s), with Ten Extra Pounds, whose drummer DWitt is one talented poster artist. As of 2011, there was still a website called Gig Posters that featured a bunch of his work [defunct as of 2025] (it seems that he also made a few posters for another band with a very similar name!)
Eric posted a short blurb about The Pushrods on his Lethatgic site, along with a few other bands he’s been involved with – that link is still live as of Sep 2025.
Lo and behold, as of 2025, there is a ghost from the much loved and sadly lamented TCPunk site, captured in the Wayback Machine, that attests to the strength of The Pushrods’ fan base, dating back to 2002.
