We know D.C. Get our free newsletter to stay in the know.
Stand-Out Track: No. 1, “No Worry Woman,” a chugging doom-rock number about the kind of lady whom, lyricist/vocalist J.D. Williams says, “you don’t take home to Mama but you never get off your mind.” Lines such as “She likes stealing, cheap wine, and good cocaine/Always got a new story and a place to stay” sketch the central character. Another tells us why the narrator’s disapproval doesn’t mean dismissal: “You’ve never seen a liar look this fine.”
Musical Motivation: Williams, who also sings in doom-scene stalwart Internal Void, says that the music for “No Worry Woman” had already been written when he joined the Sharpsburg, Md., quintet a couple of years ago. He took home a six-song demo, he says, and “sat in my basement for a couple of weeks and came up with the lyrics.”
The subterranean mood was enhanced by guitarist Kyle Van Steinberg’s cavernous, Sabbath-esque lead line, says Williams: “I liked that riff as soon as I heard it. It’s a pure Kyle riff.” But the song’s ’70s sound doesn’t mean it’s set there. “Regarding this past-her-prime party girl,” says Williams, 35, “the math doesn’t always add up—like her brother wouldn’t have been old enough to have served in Nam.”
Taking the Bait: “As soon as the other guys in the band saw the lyrics, they started asking me who it was about,” Williams recalls. “They were throwing out names.” It turns out that Ms. No Worry is actually an amalgam of several different people—a “rough-and-tumble” fantasy who “acts like a man.” “She’s not a lesbian,” Williams clarifies. “But she goes fishing. And probably carries a knife.” —David Dunlap Jr.