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YELLOW GREEN RED :  "The underground tunnel that connects New York City and Brisbane hasn’t been cleaned in decades, so it makes sense that groups like The Art Gray Noizz Quintet and Gravel Samwidge would eventually encounter each other there. Each band has developed their own takes on fine-aged scuzz-punk, as documented on this split single. The Art Gray Noizz Quintet, led by the illustrious Stuart Gray, refuse to slink into the comfort of (elder-)middle age, conjuring more NYC-as-swamp noise-rock with “Relief”. Served with extra sleaze care of Nikki D’Agostino’s sax, this is what I’d imagine plays in the background as Lydia Lunch makes a random man cry outside the club. Gravel Samwidge are far less metropolitan; this is music not for the lounge-lizards leaving the bar at 6:00 AM but the laborers starting their shifts pouring concrete across the street. There’s some stoner-y bounce to the chorus, and the undeniable sense of its Australian origins, all hairy forearms and sunburnt faces. Get these two groups together on an uninhabited island with some building supplies and a few cases of liquor and it’s gonna become the next million-dollar hipster enclave in a year, I can all but guarantee it.” 
i94 BAR :  This single is far, far more important than the trolls and vermin lurking in the limelight, sucking up all the oxygen. First, most split singles sound like opposites wrestling in glue. “Relief” and “Don't Go There” is a classic match-up. While these songs aren't like the same band, both have a similar filthy, driving sound dripping with droll, nasty humour. Not that you'll be laughing, you'll be too busy tripping over the rug and spilling your gin and tripping over the cat. It's a pretty package, too: coloured translucent purple or recycled vinyl, and there's a fab insert. And as any fule nose, every decent single is a work of art. Now, (for once) the press release is bang-on: “These tracks sound fooking killer. PLAY LOUD”.' This in itself is worth mentioning, as a lot of records don't have this crisp savagery. Mikey Young is responsible for the wicked, clear mastered sound. If you don't know about him, first go here for a bit of back story, then investigate elsewhere.. Brisbane’s Gravel Samwidge is, as you know, one of the few brilliant band names. And... their music lives up to the name, been around a few years. Seen them lately? Why not? They've recently returned to action after their last LP, “Complaints” in 2022, been playing with Buddhadatta and Paul Kidney Experience (both of whom are throat-catchingly full live. In fact, get their split LP here. Samwidge is led by Mark Spinks, who also fronts Mark's Paranormal Disneyland, but who was also one of the inhabitants of an exciting underground scene which existed around a number of inner Sydney pubs about 40 years ago (yes, it really has been forty years ago. We are OLD). Bass-lead rippling rock'n'roll, “Don't Go There”, is an adventure of a song with a guitar attack like a pair of pincers in the bicep. Difficult not to smile in recognition of confused lap-toppers when Spinks comes out with lyrics like, 'The system says, 'You can’t see'/ I live my life in anonymity/ There’s a bright star/ In the sky/ It’s orbiting no reason why' ...” Mark's declamatory vocal reminds me somewhat of Kim Salmon in the glory days of the (Hooper/Pola era) Surrealists. I won't spoil the rest of the lyric, and the chorus is simplicity personified. Don't do as the man sings, “Don't Go There” - do. You won't regret it, it's slurping supercharged rock'n'roll. Just as an aside, you know that 5G/Gates/virus plot thingy? Why do these folks think that checking out an encyclopaedia like Britannica is somehow consorting with an invisible enemy? I have no idea. The dimwits shall inherit the earth. Anyway. New York City’s Art Gray Noizz Quintet. You should have their self-titled LP by now. No? Why not? Here, you lazy sods, there are stuff-all copies remaining. “Relief” is, equally, an aural adventure, where shades of B-movie noir squeak against improbably-abbattoired characters with cigs dangling and sneers sneering. If you ever dug later Cramps, the Quintet is for you. You may or may not know, but Stuart Gray (aka Stu Spasm), who runs the the Quintet, is an old Adelaide boy. There's a documentary imminent, which I assume will focus on his successes overseas. Many folks here remember Stu; I first remember seeing him from the early 1980s, when he brought two already-existing bands, The Bad Poets and The Brats, into a rough and sharp relief. Rightly disgusted with Adelaide, he was part of the Sydney scene mentioned above (as were quite a few Adelaide folks who got themselves embroiled up there among the fruit-bats and wrap-sellers). At some point in 1989 he returned to Adelaide to extract Renestair E.J. and Martin Bland and, as Lubricated Goat, proceeded to squirm, rather noisily, across the world. There's a wealth of history to the man, but that's not where he is now. If we're spared, and if we survive, everyone changes, and this is where Stuart Gray is now. “Relief”? What might initially seem to be a stonking, survivalist rant is in fact a bloody funny take on a well-known trope ... like I say, with elements of savagery (if not black comedy, or comic cruelty). Now look, you don't know me But I'm your brother I was torn, torn From between two lovers ... Yeah I may just take you with me To a place that you don't wanna go A place I call relief If you've not lived in this area, I bet you've visited. Get your souvenir here." Nick Cave: The Birthday Party and Other Epic Adventures
A killer record for folks who like it dirty, swampy, and sweaty. The opener, “A Call to You” is straight out of swampland, sounding similar to the Scientists. Next they cover the Weirdos, “Life of Crime” and keep it true to its original raw sound. If you’re a fan of the Scientists later work, Voodoo Rhythm Records, Nick Cave, or Wovenhand, you’ll dig this. They fit the dirty rock genre well without ripping off any of those bands. I feel like Lux Interior would approve of this being true rock’n’roll. – Ryan Nichols 
PERTE & FRACAS :  The Art Gray Noizz Quintet. Behind this deceptively long name that sounds jazzy, you've got noizz and you've got Gray, for Stuart Gray, aka Stu Spasm, as master of ceremonies. The former Lubricated Goat who also freelanced with Beasts Of Bourbon or briefly formed Crunt with Kat Bjelland (Babes In Toyland) as a couple at the time and Russell Simins (Jon Spencer Blues Explosion) in the early 90's is still going strong in the big rock'n'roll circuit with this new project since 2015. He finally releases a first album after a single in 2018 whose two tracks (A Call To You and Won't Say It To My Face) are found on this record recorded as it should be by Martin Bisi. Because this album breathes New York to the fullest. Not only the Australian Stuart Gray has been living there for many years but the other protagonists are firmly attached to this city. 'Bloody' Rich Hutchins (ex-Of Cabbages And Kings, Live Skull, Missing Foundation) on drums, Skeleton Boy (ex-Woman) on bass, Andrea Sicco (Twin Guns) on guitar. Plus a brass section with Nikki d'Agostino (sax) and Nicholas John Stevens (trombone). That's six you can count. And we could have called it a quartet since the two horns are only present on a handful of tracks. Hello quintet. No matter. The Big Apple bursts with a black juice, noise and swamp. It flows in their veins, the ghosts of their previous bands. But also Birthday Party (particularly evident on Killed By An Idiot) and a whole divinely filthy lineage coming from this antipodean island that knows a lot about dirty rock'n'roll. The Cramps, because the roots are important, Gallon Drunk, the Cop Shoot Cop Release era for more melodic parts, and Unsane when it's about beating a tribal rhythm, making the guitar squeal and delivering fearsome bass lines as harsh and emaciated as a Skeleton Boy still playing only on two strings but they are the best. Of the noise-rock which perspires the noxious alleys of NY as much as the southern dust that Stuart Gray overflows in his growling, cavernous voice, without the touch of madness of yesteryear, more lucid but he knows how to calm his world and bring attention to the background of an organ that has gone through many battles. Except Life Of Crime, a cover which smells as dated as the band (The Weirdos) that composed it in 1977 and some passages in the guitar a little perilous, Gray's troupe puts on a very good figure and lines up a beautiful skewer of heavy, fiery, swaying compositions, advancing on a heavy and intractable rhythm, even slower and threatening guitars (Gray also plays some) which twist and a nice general drive. Stuart Gray finds a second youth, knows the recipe and knows how to magnify it perfectly in this fierce maze of a shaken tradition. The Art Gray Noizz Quintet, it is solid. – SKX
i94 BAR :  It's been a while since I last saw Stu Spasm on stage (in Adelaide). I used to see him in bands like The Bad Poets and The Brats - he lifted both s into another game entirely. These days Spasm lives in New York and has carved out a following in the USA. From rock ‘n’ roll outlaw - which he always was - to something like a terrifying troll beneath a bridge, Spasm's later work has come to the attention of most of you, and if it hasn't, it's time it did. The outfit consists of Skeleton Boy (from Woman) on two-string bass; Andrea Sicco (Twin Guns) on gittar; Bloody Rich Hutchins (Live Skull) on drums, with further depredations by Nikki D'Agostino and Nicholas John Stevensb>. Recorded and mixed by Martin Bisi, Bloody Rich, the Quintet and Michael Jung. Enough history, what're they like? Sublime, ugly, stupid, beautiful, big. Interestingly, there's a lot of understated humour going on here - not that that matters particularly when the LP's opener, "A Call to You" grabs you by the short and curlies and yanks you round the room while a 1950s flying saucer film squiggles and squeals away in the background. What's really, really impressive is how fucking sophisticated, acid, rough, and gentle this all is. Oh yes. The Art Gray Noizz Quintet are best appreciated L O U D. I'll say this - we're not talking grunge or noise-rock or swamp. Sure, there are elements of those there. But hey, this is an old Adelaide boy here. Frankly, Art Gray Noizz Quintet reminds me of many of the riotous bands this city has disgorged. "Life of Crime" is another stone-cold gripping monster of a song. You'll recognise a few tropes. But ... doesn't matter. All that matters is that you're taken away. The effect is immediate, it's as if r'n'r is here again at ground zero. "Lie Come True" - ha, reminds me a little of Salamander Jim. But the structures are so ... big, so ripping. I love the sax, the battering the percussion and drums put us through. The clever guitar. The black humour embedded like pins in your eyeballs. Oh, and Skeletonboy's solid cabalistic bass lines. I won't go over track by track. They're all damn good. "Won't Say It To My Face" is so very very New York - think the attitudes behind the original Cramps or the R***nes (no, the song sounds nothing like them really) but it's so ... vulnerable, dangerous, cynical, special, funny but not ha-ha. A hell of an achievement. So knowing, I can't work out if Spasm's laughing at himself or the cosmic joke or us all or ... and that 1950s flying saucer wibble just works so well it shouldn't be allowed. I'll only give you one quote - from "Calling All Cars": 'We got him by the neck/ He was selling cigarettes/ You can't sell cigarettes/ Not in New York/ Not if you're black' ... Yeah, alright. If you say you love rock'n'roll, you need this in your collection. Even if you like to say you hate it, if you put on "The Art Gray Noizz Quintet" when it's late and you want to clear out the revellers ... the party will revive, and then get better, clothes will be shed, drugs will be delivered gratis by Trump's dealer, the cops will arrive and join in, the neighbours will pack their bags and leave for granmaw's place in Okeedokee Swamp, and then ... an Elvis/Link Wray monster will rise from the sewer and grab you by the balls. If, of course, it hasn't already. Just buy it here. Oh, Bang! Records have apparently sold out. Over to Discogs with you - either that or badger them to repress.” Nick Cave: The Birthday Party and Other Epic Adventures
YELLOW GREEN RED :  "Does New York City qualify as a swamp? I’d say it fits the description in more ways than one, which explains why the boozy swamp-rock of The Art Gray Noizz Quintet manages to thrive on that tiny slab of land. Featuring Stuart Gray of none other than Lubricated Goat, his menacing neanderthalic thud continues out of the ’90s and into the future care of his capable quintet. The noise-rock predilections of Lubricated Goat are still in effect, but injected with a garage-y twang, resulting in a sort of sludge-rock Cramps that staggers back and forth. Many songs follow Cramps-ian tropes of schlock horror and drug-induced paranoia/despair too, as likely to invoke the Creature From The Black Lagoon and Godzilla as brutal cops and hangovers. Whereas many noise-rockers seem content to hide their actual personalities behind walls of blown-out fuzz, Gray is a proud carnival barker, his gnarly croak coming across like the bridge troll that swallowed the opening band. As far as stanky garage-noise is concerned, this quintet is the real deal, and if you don’t believe me, go ahead and google their bassist, 'Skeleton Boy', I’ll wait!”
"Remember how like forty years ago we wore our jeans until they were falling apart with big holes in the knees, and everybody thought that was so ridiculous, and then a few years later, lo and behold they came out with “pre-worn” jeans, which were jeans with a bunch of holes in them for people too lazy to wear out their own jeans? That’s what about half the cassettes I hear this day remind me of, it’s like they were pre-left sitting on a dashboard of a 1975 Mercury Monarch for a couple of years to appeal to the needs of a society too lazy to wear out their own cassettes (okay, to be fair, the sound quality does perk up quite a bit a few minutes in, but cassettes have always been annoying anyway. Maybe the fact that I haven’t cleaned the heads on my tape deck since the ’90s has something to do with this situation. It’s not you babe, it’s me). That said, I became somewhat mesmerized by this pelvis-twitching squall after about three songs. It’s gripping! Invigorating! And best of all, you can’t hear the trombone! The band includes former members of the Beasts Of Bourbon, Lubricated Goat, and Live Skull, so if you imagined something that sounded like the darker of the Bigtime Records acts crossed with that noisy ’80s NYC stuff, you wouldn’t be far off the mark. Please release a real album that does not involve a J-card or plastic cassette housings. Thank you." BEST SONG: “Won’t Say It to My Face” BEST SONG TITLE: “New Kind of Animal” FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: The band is a six-piece. – Rev. Nørb
THE NEW YORK TIMES : 
"As the frontwoman of the short-lived group Teenage Jesus & The Jerks, Lydia Lunch sang - if you could call it that - vitriolic anthems about neglect and suffering. In so doing, she became the de facto mascot of no wave, a brutal, reactionary strain of experimental rock that offered an alternative to the new wave of the late 1970s. For this concert in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Lunch will assume lead vocal duties for Art Gray Noizz Quintet, the latest project from Stu Spasm, a fellow longtime noise-rock notoriety on the New York music scene. According to the show's poster, it promises to premiere 'unreleased collaborations and bastardized classics.'”
THE NEW YORK TIMES : 
Speaking of noise, that’s kind of Stu Spasm’s thing — from Lubricated Goat in the late 1980s and Crime Wave in the early aughts to his current project, the Art Gray Noizz Quintet. This elder statesman of clamor hasn’t lost his touch with devilishly groovy tunes like 'Won’t Say It' and what should be everyone’s new favorite anthem 'Killed by an Idiot.' - DANIELLE DOWLING"
"Any band boasting members of LUBRICATED GOAT and Live Skull will get my attention. So it's pleasing to report that THE ART GRAY NOIZZ QUINTET live up to expectations. The Brooklyn brutes' recent "A Call To You"/"Won't Say It To My Face" single pummels, whooshes, and oscillates like Hawkwind on a tequila bender. It's pugilistic rock with gravel-voiced singing that aspires to space, but it's too busy kicking your ass to achieve stellar liftoff. (Key detail: The drummer's name is Bloody Rich.) And that resultant friction is what makes the music so compelling." -DAVE SEGAL
YELLOW GREEN RED :  "The Art Gray in question here is Stuart Gray, whom you may have enjoyed in such knuckle-dragging Aussie noise-rock units as Lubricated Goat and Beasts Of Bourbon. I wasn’t sure what he’d be up to today (it’s not uncommon for rockers of a certain age to be charmed by old-timey blues or rockabilly motifs, as we all sadly know), but I’m pleased to announce that his Noizz Quintet are stomping mud-holes with the vigor of a pimply-faced teen. “A Call To You” is a prime chunk of gothy noise-punk, which strongly calls to mind the mean n’ spooky sonics of TV Ghost (who were, as it turns out, actual teenagers for much of their career), and it’s Captain Gray at the helm, speaking with a voice that’s saltier than any sea dog I know. The sharp dual-guitar interplay is executed perfectly, too – excellent track indeed! Gray’s voice is even frothier on “Won’t Say It To My Face”, which feels like a classic Cramps song infused with Birthday Party guitars and Stooges chug – if that sounds enticing, that’s because it is! I think there’s one guy in the Noizz Quintet who mostly just plays tambourine or cowbell with his shirt off, too – if you’re not currently scrambling over to Stubhub to pick up tickets to see these guys live, I implore you to re-read this review.”
"The Art Gray Noizz Quintet are probably the last nasty rock'n'roll band in New York. See, Stu Spasm isn't the only culprit here. Skeletonboy is a NY underground name (one wonders if he owns his own bass yet) who used to play for WOMAN. “Bloody” Rich Hutchins (of Live Skull, do I need to explain further?) and Andrea Sicco of Twin Guns (nope, sorry, that's where the great divide between countries occur, so no idea there) also play on this. “A Call to You” is whip-smart, luridly rough rock'n'roll tinged with the despair only sticky carpet on your face can provide. Slam-friendly, drunk and methed-out friendly, “A Call to You” is as stupid and straightforward as anything you've ever loved about this thing called rock'n'roll. "Won't Say it to My Face” is a wry, droll grungy sixties number ... and it's a burning growl. I love the way the band sound so big and so locked-in... Martin Bisi produced with Stuart Gray.
Play loud and reintroduce yourself to tinnitus. 5/5" Nick Cave: The Birthday Party and Other Epic Adventures |
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THE ART GRAY NOIZZ QUINTET INTERVIEW - UNLEASHING CHAOS by Klemen Breznikar The Art Gray Noizz Quintet is a group featuring ex-members of iconic bands such as Lubricated Goat, The Beasts of Bourbon, Woman, and Live Skull. At the helm is the indomitable Stu Spasm, whose energy and vision set the stage for their audacious sound. The lineup includes Skeleton Boy on bass, Bloody Rich Hutchins on drums, Grace Bergere on guitar, and the electrifying Nikki D’Agostino on saxophone. Together, they harness the wild spirit of punk and noise rock, creating a frenetic amalgamation of gritty riffs, chaotic rhythms, and haunting melodies. In this in-depth interview, we delve into the heart of The Art Gray Noizz Quintet, uncovering the creative processes, inspirations, and adventurous journeys that define their musical concept. The Art Gray Noizz Quintet’s debut album garnered significant attention. Could you share insights into the conceptualization and thematic elements behind this album? Ryan Skeleton Boy: I’ll leave any thematic theorizing to the man himself, but I can tell you the album dives into topics such as murder by fool, the miscreant, deceit, deception, dirty cops, and various other concerns of the modern scoundrel. We recorded everything for the debut over a pretty significant span of time, at different studios, with various lineups and different people mixing, but it does all hang together as one. That glue holding it all together might just be the deteriorating mental state that took hold of us all during that whole process . . . Stu Spasm: I honestly don’t know whether the album garnered much attention. It’s hard to gauge these days. There isn’t a specific conceptual theme behind the album, other than my goal of having very good, strong songs. How did you originally come together to form the Quintet? Stu: The quintet was originally put together as a one-off to play at the afterparty for the film Color of Noizz, which is actually a tribute to Tom Hazelmeyer and Amphetamine Reptile Records. There were no active Am Rep bands at the time, so I assembled the band partially to get Hazelmeyer to jam. However, Hazelmeyer hates jamming—he thinks it’s for hippies, and, well, it often is. As a result, he would only do it if it was rehearsed, so we practiced a couple of simple songs. One was ‘Scene of the Crime’ by The Stooges, and the other may have been ‘Commit a Crime’ by Howlin’ Wolf. Anyway, the gig was so well received that we were encouraged to keep the band going—minus Hazelmeyer, of course. Ryan: There was an opportunity for Stu to play a one-off gig at an afterparty celebrating the release of the Amphetamine Reptile documentary, “The Color of Noise,” back in 2015. My former band had imploded, and I was somewhat reluctant to do anything at the time, but Stu swung by for a visit one day, kind of pulled me out of my pit, and asked me if I wanted to be involved. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse, especially since Stu was and remains one of my favorite guitar players and people. At the time, he had also been doing a series of duo shows with our friend Andrea Sicco on guitar, where they would do John Barry covers and such. Andrea was a great fit and was added in next. So, a band was cobbled together for the gig, which was good and raucous, and we were asked to do a few more not long afterward. Bloody Rich had been missing in action, as he was down in Texas in rehab, but we nabbed him in time for the next gig. Then we dragged people into our orbit along the way; our renegade horn section was poached from another band. So, we were originally supposed to be a one-night stand . . . but we continue on.
CATERWAUL FEST - 5/28/23 Minneapolis, MN Art GrAy NoizZ Quintet was a group I knew absolutely nothing about. But these dudes show up looking like a scuzziest lounge lizards on earth with barely-buttoned shirts, bad combovers, way too many rings and blood that’s probably permanently at least 10% alcohol and proceed to just beat the shit out of the audience with their super scuzzy, saxophone-backed rock n’ fuckin’ roll. Their drummer stood up the entire time and it looked super weird and unsettling. It was dudes from Lubricated Goat if that gives any indication, which it should.
"NOISE-ROCK SUPER GROUP LANDS AT ELI'S MILE HIGH CLUB OAKLAND -- Led by Australian noise-rock legend Stu Spasm, the Art Gray Noizz Quintet brings its caustic and corrosive songs to Eli's Mile High Club in Oakland Saturday night. Guitarist Spasm (known to some by his birth name, Stuart Gray) had already played in such notable Australian punk groups as Exhibit A, Salamander Jim and Scientists offshoot the Beasts of Bourbon when he founded Sydney-based band Lubricated Goat in 1986. Taking cues from the Stooges and Nick Cave's pioneering crew the Birthday Party, Spasm and his collaborators would make an even more unhinged improvisational racket on Lubricated Goat's debut album Plays the Devil's Music the following year. The band would feature a fluid line-up of players with future Mudhoney bassist Guy Maddison included among the musicians who recorded the band's follow-up effort Paddock of Love the following year. The band created a national controversy by appearing onstage in the nude to perform the album's lead single "In the Raw" on the Australian Broadcast Corporation show Blah Blah Blah. Despite that notorious performance (or perhaps because of it), the group would eventually get signed to like-minded U.S. noise-punk imprint Amphetamine Reptile, who reissued the band's earlier albums and recent EP Schadenfreude ahead of Lubricated Goat's first American tour in 1989. The band released its third album Psychedelicatessen for the label in 1990, but Lubricated Goat would go on hiatus after Spasm was stabbed in Berlin during their first European tour. The musician would release a number of singles on various labels under the moniker during the early '90s, but also founded the group Crunt with then wife Kat Bjelland (of the band Babes in Toyland) and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion drummer Russell Simins. The trio would record a single album, but by the time it was released in 1994, both the group and Spasm's marriage to Bjelland had started disintegrate. Both would be over within the year. Lubricated Goat would go silent until Spasm and a new version of the band released The Great Old Ones, a 2003 collection of re-recorded material from throughout the group's history, and resumed live performances. Spasm's latest all-star project the Art Gray Noizz Quintet formed in 2015 to celebrate the premiere of the Amphetamine Reptile documentary The Color of Noise. Featuring latter-era Lubricated Goat member Rich Hutchins (also former drummer of Live Skull, Of Cabbages and Kings and Ruin) along with ex-Woman bassist Ryan Skeleton Boy, Twin Guns guitarist Andrea Sicco and a variety of auxiliary members playing horns and metal percussion. Since coming together, the outfit has supported kindred spirits like Mudhoney and the reunited Scientists as well as collaborating onstage with NYC no-wave heroine Lydia Lunch. Earlier this year, the Quintet released its self-titled studio debut on Bang Records. The band's latest West Coast tour comes to Eli's Mile High Club in Oakland Saturday night and will also feature a pair of local noise terrorists: established space-punk freaks FNU Clone, Inc. and Future Kill, the latest project of Salt Lake City experimentalists Mikey Blackhurst and Kristin Maloney (ex-Blood Bagz) now based in the East Bay. The Art Gray Noizz Quintet Saturday, Aug. 20, 8 p.m. $13 Eli's Mile High Club" - DAVE PEHLING
"Another killer live cassette by the masterminds at Primitive Screwhead. This was actually my first exposure to the ART GRAY NOIZZ QUINTET, who play mid-tempo, sleazy noise rock. This was recorded mere days before all the COVID lockdown protocols began, so it stands to reason that this was likely the last live musical experience that the crowd that fateful evening would experience for quite some time. Listening to it on cassette, I would imagine that those who were lucky enough to be in attendance were held over for quite some time thanks to these nasty grooves delivered by the QUINTET." - BIFF BIFARO MRR #466 • MARCH 2022
ART GRAY NOIZZ QUINTET LIVE REVIEW Friday March 13th, 2020 66th Congress
"On the penultimate night before any reasonably sane gastronome of NYC underground nightlife deemed it unsafe to gather in groups of more than say, two, I made it a point to see Art Gray Noizz Quintet . . . AGNQ has a unique musicality that really sets them apart from the dark pack. The material itself is simple, melodic, direct and loud; dense, yet spatial. What each player brings to the wobbly, whiskey-soaked table via their individual approach is what also makes them special indeed. They are quite an ensemble.
Australia’s own Art Gray (nee Stu Spasm, he of Lubricated Goat, Beasts of Bourbon et al) leads the charge, growling out mean, soulful vocals and even meaner, soulful-er guitar, while Andrea Sicco (Twin Guns and Arpalice) has a swampy, riff-edged guitar style that elevates the songs with a sophisticated, spooky, and confident air. Sicco provides the perfect cold stab of yin to Gray’s hot punchy yang. Yes, I said ‘hot punchy yang’ and I have no regrets. All we need to say about bassist Skeleton Boy (formerly of Woman, among others), he of the infamous two-stringed bass, is that all he needs is two effing strings. He does more with those two effing strings than most do with four (let alone five and don’t get me started on those Chapman Stick weirdos). Just like Neil Young (What? Stay with me here), he exudes enough passion and pathos from a single note to keep you vibrating for days, more than any bass slinger who thinks that doing the hokey cokey all over the neck makes them a ‘musician’. He puts those noodlers to shame. The ubiquitous Rich Hutchins on drums (Live Skull, Of Cabbages and Kings, and Isolation Society) always finds the perfect moment to make that perfect hit. Nothing is wasted: he knows when to hold ‘em and knows when to fold ‘em (RIP Kenny Rogers). Few drummers listen, drive, attack and bash in equal measure like Hutchins and his kit mastery is a rarity as much as a blessing. Nikki D’Agostino on sax (Female Genius, Vestments) and Nicholas John Stevens on trombone bring a delirious richness to the already omniscient bass tones Skeleton Boy is pushing into the ozone, laying a thick patch of mid-range and bottom end that the entire band skates over, under and around, blazing out single, sustained notes and arpeggios that put me in the mind of Rocket From The Crypt at their peak, or Ray Manzarek’s dirty, sexy, scary moments. But there is nothing derivative here, mind, these two are in a world of their own and they are definitely the gleaming cherries on this thick slab of unstoppable sound . . .
I’ve seen AGNQ a number of times in a number of venues over the last couple of years. At Berlin, for example, where the low ceiling and underground lair-vibe elevated their already aggressive set into a bone crushing, tooth-loosening lovefest as time froze for the duration, or standing toe-to-toe and eyeball-to-eyeball with them at Bushwick’s stage-free ABC No Rio in Exile as they spewed their joyful venom directly into our eagerly waiting faces, or on this particular night at 66th Congress where the fully functional, decent sized stage (and semi-functional toilets, sorry) served them particularly well. Every member shone like a star in a single line on stage . . ."
"As STU SPASM is set to head out west on tour with his newer band, he releases a video for a song he put out in the '80s, complete with never before seen live footage. Check it (and them out."
"You wanna know about second acts and resurrections? Cats may have nine lives, but goats appear to have more. The Art Gray Noizz Quintet may have something to say about the matter, or rather, Stu Spasm (neé Stuart Gray) does. He’s made a baller return, woodshedding his scuzzbucket rock juggernaut in NYC for a coupla years now with a consistent line up of desperadoes…and they’re totes solid action, as the U-Men would’ve said: Ryan Skeletonboy (Woman) crank-yanking a two string bass, Richie Hutchins (Live Skull/Of Cabbages & Kings/Ruin…) bustin’ guts on drums, Andrea Sicco (Twin Guns) sculpting a horn raisin’, twanged out cave frame for Stu’s new songs plus (in its current incarnation) a sax and trombone. The two songs on this 7″ are as heavy and menacing as anything on Plays The Devil’s Music, and that’s saying something (the turbulent midsection of “Won’t Say It To My Face” will make you seasick and it’s danceable!). If you ask all the tattooed, SnapChattin’, gig economizin’ Fuckin Record Reviews interns where rock lives in NYC in 2018, they wouldn’t be able to answer you right away…they’re all scuzzin’ their guts out up front to the Art Gray Noizz Quintet." 
DIG IT ZINE #73 (France) : 
- rough translation - When Stu Spasm (ex-Lubricated Goat) gets in touch with gutter cats of the same ilk as him - the bass player Ryan Skeleton Boy (ex-Woman) and drummer Bloody Rich (formerly Live Skull, ex-Of Cabbages and Kings, ex-Ruin), the Big Apple cries all the tears of its corpse, his canvas carrying a radioactive swamp blues to crystallize the smell of asphalt wet in the halo of lampposts, coagulate canine excretions at curbs and freeze ghost shadows on the facades of the buildings. We find this in The Art Gray Noizz Quintet, so named with the addition of Andrea Sicco on guitar, and Johnny Scuotto on synthesizers and other instruments of torture. An expression we knew already in Lubricated Goat and even Woman, the family of Beasts Of Bourbon, Scientists, Gallon Drunk, Cheater Slicks, Penthouse to give an overview of influential music treatment on prescription only. The perfect soundtrack to accompany the reading of 'Jesus Elvis Junkie Blues' by Merle Leonce Bone in which, also, appears The Art Gray Noizz Quintet. This single is an endocrine disruptor recommended by chemists and distillers of the DIG IT! Laboratories. |
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