On Aug. 15 of this year, while opening for Blue Oyster Cult at Hart Plaza with his band Spitting Nickels, 43-year-old guitarist Tom Furtaw collapsed onstage and passed away. Medical examiners ruled heart disease to be the cause of death. In light of such a tragedy, the release of this EP can’t fail to take on extra significance. Furtaw, also a lawyer of high repute, was a fine guitarist, not to mention a handy Hammond organ player. What better way to celebrate his life than through his music?

It’s with no small amount of pleasure (and, admittedly, a little relief) then to report that 5 The Hard Way is a fine example of Motor City blues rock. And Jim Diamond has done an excellent job from behind the mixing desk, while the musicianship of Sights and Shotgun Wedding man Eddie Baranek (taking drumming duties here), bassist John Bissa, lead guitarist Chris Brosky, vocalist Dennis Miriani and, of course, Furtaw is exquisite. The songs are pretty damn good too. As the title suggests, there are only five here, but each one is a finely-crafted slice of barroom boogie. "Give & Take" is a fittingly raucous way to open the record, with Miriani crooning over a filthy garage rock riff. "The Bitch of It All" features a strong ’60s vibe in a Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels vein, with its anthemic chorus and some retro, jangly guitar work. Best of all is the amusingly titled "You’re the Bomb, Soccer Mom." The band manages to make the wonderfully ludicrous title fit into a rather poignant tune without it sounding at all silly.

At the end of the day, music is only music, but it’s great that, through Spitting Nickels’ recorded output, Furtaw’s spirit remains alive. Our condolences to Tom’s wife and his three children. He will be missed.

Of their live shows, Spitting Nickels say "You might even forget about your day job for a bit," and the band (Dennis Miriani, Chris Brosky, John Bissa and local rock n' roll fixture Eddie Baranek) take the working man angle on their new EP 5 The Hard Way.

The band take on topics of blue-collar Americana, such as working for the man ("Give & Take"), cheap drinks ("4 The Hard Way"), being in a bar band ("The Bitch Of It All") and soccer moms ("You're The Bomb, Soccer Mom"). The latter is a country-tinged diddy which almost could've been a Sarah Palin campaign song – maybe if not for the line about "$40 nails carving up my back". Even still, 5 The Hard Way is a solid EP of Ghetto Recorders-produced, vintage -sounding, Beatles-esque rock n' roll.

“Detroit’s Basement Power Popstars”

“LOVE the CD - Makes me want crack a beer and pick up a guitar.”

“This gave us a chance to hop over into Baker's Streetcar to catch...some of those Spitting Nickels.... That place was packed as the Nickels rocked the "Car", making next to impossible to move through that room.”

“Notable.”

A year and a half after the release of their debut 5 the Hard Way EP, a record that sadly found the band publicly grieving the loss of Tom Furtaw, their guitarist who collapsed onstage while opening up for the Blue Öyster Cult and subsequently passed away, Spitting Nickels have dusted themselves off, gritted their teeth and soldiered on. In the process, they've written and recorded an album of which both the surviving band members and their fallen friend can be immensely proud.

It certainly hasn't been easy. The band also saw their high profile drummer Eddie Baranek leave in order to concentrate on his reformed Sights. His parting gift, however, was to lay down the drums on half of these songs, as well as helping to write nine of them. And his influence can be heard everywhere; Baranek is a self-confessed Anglophile, as any Sights fan can attest, and there's a definite Brit-invasion feel to Stop Don't / Yes — from its opening "All Tied Up" through the extremely Paul Weller-influenced "Find A Way" to the beautiful melancholy of "It's Killing Me".

Vocalist Dennis Miriani, impressive to begin with, has improved in the last 18 months to a point where Weller isn't an implausible comparison. Musically, the band is faultless. They were perhaps guilty of filling up the tracks a little too much on their EP; here they're happy to subscribe to the "less is more" philosophy when the song calls for it.

When the band isn't venting frustrations, their cheeky sense of humor is a genuine joy, such as on "Always Doing Something," which contains the line "She's always doing something but she won't do me." 

In the face of tragedy, when they could have been forgiven for folding, Spitting Nickels have risen up and come into their own as a real, quality Detroit rock band. One suspects that's all they really ever wanted in the first place.

-- Brett Callwood

“They rock till they pop on these economical and magnificent 3 minute and 30 second gems that have more hooks than the gong show and glorious monster riff’s lifted straight from Todd Rundgren’s playbook. I’ve listened to their MP3s and they do indeed have more than a little mojo percolating in their collective favor. To me Spitting Nickels have more of a three chord garage rock vibe that is more reminiscent of Roky Erickson’s 13 Floor Elevators than Big Star or Badfinger…except for the big-beat DC5 drum sound and soulful vocals. In the song The Bitch of it All , the Nickels sing about their true motivation…

“It ain’t about the money
It’s all about the rhythm and soul”

They are not kidding. Listen to 4 The Hard Way on their MySpace page. It’s an all-out rocker with an “All Right Now” drum riff that gets you to sit up and salute your sergeant.

Spitting Nickels released an LP through the label earlier this year. When I opened up the -jr fan mail the other day, I found a big ass vinyl copy sitting in the pile of noods. The name of the LP is "Stop Don't / Yes."  It was recorded by Jim Diamond over at Ghetto Recorders. Honestly, you couldn't put together a better marriage of sound engineer and band. Diamond excels with the gritty garage rock sound. Don't believe me? Listen to "Hot Dog" by The Dial Tones or any of the old White Stripes shit. This somewhat pigeonholes Spitting Nickels into specific genre, blues-driven garage rock. For what they are doing, though, they do it spectacularly well. Each song on the record is unique and some personal picks are "All Tied Up", "Tie One On", and "Detroit Leaning". "Don't Stop /Yes" on the whole is fast, upbeat, and danceable. Before you know it, you will have breezed through the record, covered in sweat, and ready to flip it over for more.

-- -jr

Spitting Nickels new album Stop Don’t / Yes is a hook heavy bag of blues-rock. Where the album clicks, it really clicks, everything comes together perfectly and makes you want to pump your fist (and any sexy person in the room). Dirty grooves, Mississippi via Michigan, bar rock. Stop Don’t / Yes is a fun ride.

Parts where the album lacks it just feels like it’s on a path treaded before. The peaks are very high, and the low points are few and far between. The weaker parts of the album have to do with a few cliché lyrical choices. The kind that make you think “oh, it’s that song I’ve heard a million times”. You haven’t, it’s just false memories implanted by a certain combination of words.

“I Can’t Go On Going On” has some interesting chordal structure and kicks into this heavy fast guitar solo at the bridge that ties it all together better than any rug ever could. The band seems like it has one hand on maintaining simple song structure and another hand on branching off into some blues psyche weirdness. I don’t know if they’re edging their bets, by appeasing both camps, but it almost seems like there’s 2 separate EPs here. I’m hoping they plunge full on into the psyche.

“Tie One On” is a clever and catchy pop jingle about surviving the crappyness of the daily grind. Always Doing Something, is a song I relate to very well, of dealing with women who are a mess that you just can’t get to sleep with you (“She’s always doing something, but she won’t do me!”).

The song writing credits are mixed between band members. Mixed and Mastered by Jim Diamond at Ghetto Recorders and released by Loco Gnosis records.