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Arizona BOTM: Yuma Territorial Prison Guards

Our last review might have raised some concerns. Would Arizona’s underground MySpace music have anything to offer? Would it all be instrumental, 90’s-era gangster rap?

Fear not, my friends. For the latest installment of Arizona Band Of The Moment, we bring you Yuma Territorial Prison Guards.

Borrowing the name from a local historical landmark, this little gem of a band packs some fuzzed-out ferocity: a heavy thump and jangle of guitar turned up to 11 and distorted the hell out. You won’t find innovation or mood shifts from track to track, but this is solid rock ’n’ roll — a thick goulash of punk, rock and a country aesthetic befitting their hard-scrabble hometown.

This is probably how the rest of the country imagines Yuma to be, a place scratched in stone or dynamited out of the Arizona/Mexico/California border. Yuma is a prison town, and this is prison music, barked out by a guy who sounds like a whiskey-gargling jailer.

I’ll stop with the hackneyed descriptors and let the band describe themselves:

“Sounds Like: The snap of a mans neck bein hanged (sic).”

That’s about right.

And while the truth is that Yuma, even as a bordertown, is probably a bit cleaner than its early days, the Yuma Territorial Prison Guards are more drawn to the mythology.

It’s that ethos, eschewing reality in favor of the far more interesting grit, that draws people to bands like Drive-By Truckers and Whiskeytown. Mentions of Wal-Mart and Tastee Freez in contemporary country music might be accurate, but those of us outside the South want to believe there are still moonshiners running the Alabama/Tennessee state line. It’s what makes hip-hop so popular with white suburbanites.

Reality is nice and all, but sometimes you want to listen to a distorted guitar. Sometimes you want to picture yourself in a dust-swept town downing a shot of distilled rye, even if wrapped in swirling air conditioning, clicking away at a keyboard.

Yuma Territorial Prison Guards isn’t for everyone, and it’s certainly not a band I’d listen to frequently. But the jarring D-I-Y rock from their 2006 release, “Somerton Blues,” plays well even a few times around. The sound is reminiscent of San Francisco’s Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, but with less sheen. While the lyrics are difficult to make out, the feel of a legendary frontier town brings a level of earnestness to the music.

Punk without a sneer isn’t so bad, you know?

Fortunately, denizens of Arizona’s larger cities have a chance to see YTPG live. According to the band’s MySpace site, it may split its time between Yuma and Tempe.The band will be playing a show at the Grumpus Room in Tucson on Friday, Aug. 8.

If the show is half as energetic as the music, attendees are in for a treat.

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>>Email the editor at aklaw@zoniereport.com.

MySpace AZ band review: The Arizona G’s

The democratization of music through digital file-sharing has its upside.

For one, it’s much easier for unknown bands to break out. One review with a rating of 8.0 or higher at Pitchforkmedia.com can send a band’s stock soaring, at least with hipsters in Westlake and Williamsburg. As Radiohead proved last year, major label machinery and even set prices are no longer necessary to sell albums.

But there’s a downside to the new digital democracy, too, as A&R guys at any record label across the country can tell you. For every decent band birthed on Internet buzz, there are 20 more who would’ve been better off keeping their dead-end job. That’s what we’ll be exploring here: the good, bad and mediocre of Arizona’s MySpace underground.

We’ll begin our MySpace Arizona Band Of The Moment column with the Arizona G’s of Buckeye, Arizona.

In case the MySpace layout featuring a logo for “The Bank of Ganja” and songs titled “So High” and “Time to Roll” don’t tip you off, Arizona G’s loooove weed, man. Unfortunately, they’re not apt to write lyrics about their favorite plant, instead crafting hip-hop-themed instrumentals complete with beats and synth notes.

It’s a shame, too, because the beats and instrumentals aren’t half bad. A smooth flow of lyrics about living in Buckeye and hitting the bong might fit well.

Currently, the best the Arizona G’s should hope for is to become intro music for the Phoenix Suns. I suggest their most popular tune, “Won’t leave me alone.” It worked for the Chicago Bulls and the Alan Parsons Project. Why not Buckeye’s big act?

Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, though. Arizona G’s have only been on MySpace since March. They may still have some surprises in store.

In the meantime, here’s a suggestion to Arizona G’s: Get rid of that enthroned Death figure. First, an ax is a weak substitute for a scythe. Second, the black and white pit bull logo when visitors click on “Won’t leave me alone” is much better.

For more information, check out http://www.myspace.com/arizonags.

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>>Email the editor at aklaw@zoniereport.com.