Back in 2012, when I had a lot more time on my hands, I released a folk-punk compilation album called “Took Folk To Punk (still available for free download).” It featured a handful of up and coming folk-punk bands that I thought seriously deserved more attention. Since then punk frontmen-gone-solo acts seem to have overshadowed the sub-genre, and the lazy genre groupings of punk media organizations (guilty) probably didn’t help shaping perceptions of what a folk-punk band actually might sound like.
Enter Coffin Salesman, a side project of Boston-based musician Aria Rad (of The Radicals, Live Nude Girls). Fiddles, violins, organs and pianos meet electric guitar and punk rock angst. It’s what I would consider “true” folk-punk and had they been around in 2012 they very likely would have wound up alongside Mischief Brew, The Fucking Buckaroos, and all the others on “Too Folk To Punk.” Their new album “Nicrophorus Americanus” was released yesterday and if you dug at all the bands on “Too Folk To Punk” you’re going to want to stream it below.