The Loners

The Loners are as much a part of Raleigh as overdone acorn imagery. The City of Oaks has long been home to a festering rock scene, boasting both blitzkrieg hardcore and a steady contingent of settled-in rock ’n’ roll schooled on the Sonics and The New York Dolls. The Loners are something of a bridge between the two.

Founded in 1999, the duo of singer/ guitarist Eddie Taylor and drummer Chris Jones throttled their primitive garage rock to the breaking point. The took a hiatus in 2005 but reconvened in 2007, cutting an album, Revolution!, in time for the band’s tenth birthday. That album’s streamlined 11 tracks opened with a tranquil acoustic bluff, “Unicornicopia.” It’s the following 10 that reveal The Loners’ true nature as a sputtering bluster of blues riffs and howling vocals. Taylor hollers a steady stream of “I Wannas” and “I’m Gonnas.” Their speeding rig might steal glances at various diversions—like the slight bulges of alt-rock heft in “The Devil In You” or the semi-psychedelic stereo effects that close “Out Of Time”—but they’re never more than that. The Loners pass by every off-ramp in their straight-line approach to blues-rock.

The duo uses its frills-free M.O. as a catalyst for live momentum. The Loners are never more themselves than on a stage, shaking and sweating their way through quicker, slicker versions of their tunes. The sound builds from a steady rumble into a red-eyed cyclone. And then it stops, over as abruptly as it began. But they’ll be back, because The Loners need Raleigh as much as the city needs them. —Bryan Reed