Jade Helm 15 Won't Deter ShinyRibs' Pilgrimage to San Angelo

Kevin Russell, head man of the Texas country funk-sounding band ShinyRibs, said yesterday that venturing out of his home base of Austin into lands west of there crawling with U.S. Army Special Operations personnel doesn’t bother him in the least. “Have my Certificate of Appreciation from Governor Greg Abbott’s Texas Music Office,” he said. Any roadblocks set up by the Jade Helm 15 operators should let him through with this official paperwork, he said.

The unique sound of ShinyRibs comes from many different styles. But most importantly, the band incorporates the Gulf Coast’s ‘Swamp Pop’ vibe with funk and soul. “Then we mix in some of my own Texas country in there, and it becomes somewhat of a beast,” said Russell.

The sound came from Crystal Beach on the Bolivar Peninsula, a ferry ride northeast of Galveston Island. “It was a crab boil gone wrong,” Russell said. He describes the Swamp Pop movement as a “worm hole” between Austin, his current home, and Beaumont, where he grew up, which sucked him in, and immersed him.

“The next thing you know, I’m dressing in pimp suits like a big queer,” Russell said.

NASA isn’t too far away from the home of Swamp Pop, and Russell said that he plays many shows for current astronauts, usually at their birthday parties.

“Astronauts, when they get a few in them, they start talking. And often, when they talk, the subject turns to Buzz Aldrin and what he said about the Moon,” Russell said.

“He went to the Moon and he kicked it. I don’t know why he kicked it, but he did. And the Moon made a ‘pinging’ sound. And he suggested that the Moon is made of some sort of alloy. And it’s a lightweight alloy that’s super-strong. And it was built by someone or something deliberately to foster life on earth. Without the Moon, we wouldn’t be here, right?” Russell said. To him, the Moon’s origin is somewhat a conspiracy, which led Russell to pen his band’s hit song, “Who Built the Moon?”

All kidding aside, Russell is excited to make a beachhead for performing in San Angelo. He said his band’s inauguration to the Concho Valley happened a few years ago at the music festival in Eden. That led to their performance at the Fort Concho stables. Several attendees at that event told Katie Bollinger who books bands at Blaine’s Pub that the bar needs to book them. “They’re really, really fun. And good,” Bollinger said.

The ShinyRibs show incorporates audience participation and promises a good time for all. “If you haven’t seen our show, you’ll probably go through three stages. At first, you’ll think we’re crazy. You’ll be asking ‘are they for real?’ Next, you’ll start to realize that we’re actually pretty good musicians,” Russell said. ShinyRibs features a horn section, in addition to the standard Swamp Pop band layout of lead guitar-ukulele-banjo, drums, electric bass, and keyboards. “By the end of the night, you’ll be dancing,” Russell promised.

Incidentally, saxophonist and flutist Mark Wilson, one-half of the ShinyRibs horn section called “The Tijuana Train Wreck,” is from San Angelo.

They play Thursday night (July 30) at Blaine’s Pub’s Thursday Night LIVE! music series, starting at 8 p.m. Food is catered by Chicken Express starting at 7 p.m. The cover is $10. Blaine’s is located at 10 W. Harris St. downtown.

For more on ShinyRibs, see their website, and watch them on YouTube.