Weedeater

Band names can be indicative of many things, but be wary of assuming too much. A handle like Weedeater can be misleading. For one thing, the act doesn’t do psychedelic rock. Nor does it do tripped-out drug anthems. And mistaking its members for dreadlocked hippies might end up in a broken nose. Weedeater does grunge like dirty Southern rockers high on distortion. Bassist David “Dixie” Collins, formerly of Buzzov-en fame, growls through the microphone with the savage discourse of a backwoods gang of teenagers. Meanwhile, the drums pace through droned-out guitar riffs as if heaviness were an amp setting. With only two full-lengths to call its own — 2001’s And Justice for Y’all and 2003’s Sixteen Tons — the three-piece makes up for the light catalogue in weighty songs and dense live shows. Any number of Weedeater’s stoner-metal contemporaries could be touted as either influences or references, but really, what’s in a name?