The opening riffs from The Clutters' "Surrender" represent a perfect cross between The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" and the theme song from Richard Linklater's School of Rock. Which, to channel the film's protagonist, means that the song pretty obviously rules.
Named for the infamous family of murder victims in Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, the Nashville band is nowhere near as morbid nor as serious as its name would indicate. Don't Believe a Word follows the group's 2005 debut T&C — an album that Cameron Crowe went crazy for — and it's packed with bouts of handclapping, addictive hooks and clanging cymbals.
Led by singer-guitarist Doug Lehmann — who sounds eerily like the Pixies' Frank Black — The Clutters' members clearly revel in making fun, rebellious and catchy rock songs. When Lehmann announces, "I'm a bat out of hell / and I'm ready to rail" in the middle of "Surrender," it's hard not to get onboard, and immediately chime in.
Listen to yesterday's 'Song of the Day.'
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