Hoover's G-String: Press

POP MATTERS

Roots-pop trio Hoover's G-String may not be a household name, but after nearly a decade of releasing dependable albums, it seems the band likes operating away from the spotlight - hell, it says as much in the press sheet accompanying their third LP, Elephant Parts. The trio -- guitarist/singer Jeff Reinholz, bassist Jim Reinholz and drummer Bill Gatter -- have created a warm, friendly album that feels lived-in, from the chugging opening title cut, to the twangy middle of the album ("Sinking", "Drink to That") to the comfortable jam of closer "Got Balls". Elephant Parts is the sound of a band that simply digs playing together -- they're in it for the love of the game, so to speak. (Lone misstep: a sped-up cover of Springsteen's "I'm On Fire" that veers too close to Hayseed Dixie-type parody to work effectively.) Megastars, no, but with Elephant Parts, here's hoping that Hoover's G-String reach a few more ears. RIYL: early Wilco, Bill Lloyd, Breakup Society.

ALBUM CAPSULES

This Virginia trio has been slugging it out in the indie scene for a decade now, and it is time they received their due. The pop driven hookiness of their music has a visceral edge, combining maturity in songwriting, instrumental prowess and vocal strength with the raw power of wide eyed kids chasing the prize. Strong songs include the gutsy “Go Back To Texas,” the seething but laid back vibe of “A Summer Of Monster” and the punked up take on Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire.”

INDIEMUSIC.COM

The goal was to “plug in and roll tape.” Working with producer Don Coffey in Knoxville, Tennessee, the guys wanted to capture the sound and energy of their live act. Numerous kegs later, mission accomplished, yeah, baby. Well worth the trip.

Rock ‘n roll and lots of Budweiser. On this, their third full-length, Hoover’s G-string is fresh and funny. If you think I’m kidding, check out their promo material: the J. Edgar Hoover stickers, pretty in g-string and heels, though a bit hairy for my taste. Their straight up rock sound bears the same tongue-in-cheek feel, from the less-than-loving Bush tribute, “Go Back to Texas," to the sly “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” mocking the military’s willful ignorance policy.

Lots of short, catchy tunes, very catchy actually. The antithesis of pretentiousness, they sound like a hard-workin’ bar band. Songwriter Jeff Reinholz brings a pop sensibility, but I mean it in the nicest way. These arrangements are tight and guitar-driven, and drummer Bill Gatter burns. Even when they’re not full throttle rockin’, the threat is always there.

After listening to just a few cuts, I was thinking Springsteen. Jeff Reinholz sounds a bit like him, absent some of the raw power, so track number seven, his “I’m on Fire," was no surprise; a good cranked-up cover. But I was already sold. The instrumental “Sand Road Blues” and hard-driving “Sinking” had won me over with their slow burn changes. There’s a lot to like here, even without J. Edgar in pumps.

SKRATCH MAGAZINE

Though the band has only been together for 10 years, the third full-length from this Virginia retro trio faithfully brings back the catchy melodies and musical fun of the early '80s. With a pop sound similar to 20/20 or The Knack and a vocalist (Jeff Reinholz) who has an incredible ability to mimic Springsteen, Hoover's G-String has put out a memorable album. There's some tongue-in-cheek humor here, as with a Bush tribute, "Go Back to Texas", the social put-down "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", and a Springsteen cover, "I'm On Fire", that any listener would swear really was the Boss until it launches into a sped-up version that sounds like Johnny Cash on crank. Hoover's G-String is a band that sounds like it's having fun in a local bar. This may not be a platinum album, but the fun is infectious.

SONIC CURIOSITY

HOOVER'S G-STRING: Elephant Parts (CD on Red Tide Records)

This release from 2006 offers 35 minutes of guitar rock.

Hoover's G-String is: Jeff Reinholz on vocals and guitar, Jim Reinholz on guitar, bass and vocals, and Bill Gatter on drums and backing vocals, with Tim Lee on guitar on two tracks, and Mic Harrison on backing vocals on two tracks.

Here we have solid guitar rock that wastes no time on posturing or flamboyance. The flash is entirely confined to the music.

Powerful guitars crash and wail, belting out durable riffs with relentless accomplishment. Delivering the melodies with blazing clarity, the guitars conspire with adept expertise, generating shuddering walls of sound that seem pliant and capable of folding around the audience and cocooning the listeners within an embrace of invigorating vibrations.

Grizzly basslines ooze throughout this pulsating guitar aura, providing suitable foundation and flavoring the melodies with a growling undercurrent.

Demonstrative drums resound with exuberant ardor, not just contributing tasty rhythms but producing a sensual pounding that meshes perfectly with the tuneage. Beats and notes fuse to create a vibrant union that mesmerizes as it enthuses.

Suspended in this delicious music are strong vocals that deliver eclectic meaning to each song. The voices are strong and sturdy, the words they sing stem from the gut and tingle with stark realism.

The music itself is stalwart and robust, as if produced by a bar band deeply touched by alternative sensibilities. Each song delivers a stiff right hook to the jaw, leaving the audience eager for the next shot.

RENEGADE NEWSLETTER

This tight, Virginia-based guitar trio delves well into straight ahead punk,
Midwestern twang, and jazz-funk instrumentals with equal dexterity. Kinda reminds
me of the days of old when "alternative" really meant something.

IN MUSIC WE TRUST

It's been a long time but HOOVER'S G-STRING is back and better than
ever. This band has always had the ability to take their pop in a
myriad of directions but on "Elephant Parts" they outdo even their
own high standards. Their guitar pop is so brilliantly diverse here it will
have fans of their sound drooling at the splendor on offer. At any given
time they are capitalizing on paths blazed by pop icons as dissimilar as
the RAMONES, REM, THE KNACK, TRAIN, BRYAN ADAMS, JUNK MONKEYS, DEEP BLUE
SOMETHING and THE REFRESHMENTS.

Ultimately, in spite of (or maybe because of) such rich influences, HOOVERS G-STRING ends up sounding like
nobody but HOOVERS G-STRING. Whether deftly navigating a Bruce
Springsteen cover or kicking out one of their own soon-to-be classics
like "Sweden" or "Catholic School Boy" or "Go Back to
Texas;" this is one band that knows what to do when armed with a
microphone, guitar, bass, and drum kit. Their music has a definite
edge, primarily because they keep it loose and jangling, but they still
manage to keep things easily accessible. Snotty yet smart. Humorous
yet oddly glum at times. I gotta tell ya, I love it.

SMOTHER.NET

As the album title might suggest this is an album about big things. Having formed ten years ago, Hoover’s G-String might not be the most well-known band but they have forged a tremendous following within the underground indie rock world. They recorded “Elephant Parts” with Superdrag drummer Don Coffey Jr. The result is a dynamic rock-n-roll album that has already been licensed to MTV’s “Real World” and “Road Rules” programs—hopefully they’ll finally get the major label recognition that they so deserve. Besides I want to see local bands succeed on a national level (they hail from Falls Church a mere twenty minute ride from me). And boy do they like their Budweiser as evidenced by the numerous cans of Buds pictured in their album.

- J-Sin / Smother.net

WASHINGTON POST

The members of Hoover's G-String will probably live to regret picking that name, but at least they haven't based a musical concept around it.
This local trio plays tuneful pop-rock without any noticeable political content, satirical or otherwise. The band's only stylistic idiosyncracy is a taste for instrumentals; there are four short ones among the 13
listed tracks on the group's album, "Gargle."

When guitarist Jeff Reinholz isn't singing, the G-String tends to get funkier; bassist Jim Reinholz takes a more prominent role and, on "Long
Live The Fleshtones," a guest horn section joins in. Yet most of these songs are punchy rockers outfitted with catchy melodies and
playfully rueful lyrics. "Cutting my head off / 'Cause I don't need it," announces
"Head," while "Overrated" dismisses happiness, Disneyland, and loud guitars. The song's excellent guitar solo, though, suggests that the band hasn't
really written off all those things.

SEEN--MIDWESTERN INFRACULTURE

DC's guitar-powered pogo-friendly power trio, Hoover's G-String,
serves up an even-handed selection of pop-punk nouveau on its
first full-length CD, Gargle. Led by the overdriven guitar and warbly voice
(imagine a combo of Freedy Johnston and Pere Ubu's David Thomas) of
one-time folky Jeff Reinholz, Hoover's G-String has been building a
national reputation for themselves, contributing numerous songs to various
college radio compilations and sporadically touring to help spread their
particular brand of upbeat, unpretentious guitar pop.

The first two numbers on Gargle ("Head" and "Sick of Trying") get the ball
rolling with punchy musical performances complementing world-weary lyrics
(Cut my head, cause I don't need it). The arrangements are nothing to write
home about; the songs are pure rock 'n roll, with no bullshit.

Just when you begin to think the band might be another one-trick pony, however,
they bust out "Insanity," a Margaritaville-inflected acoustic number. "They say
insanity runs in my family / guess I come by it honestly," Reinholz sings, relating
tales of a grandfather's suicide and a lottery-winning --and naked--uncle's arrest in
a shopping mall, as the harmonica and melodic electric guitar line fills in the gaps.
Truly one of Gargle's Zenith's, "Insanity" should be a single.

The following track, "Chinese Water Torture," is a bright instrumental, short and sweet,
with clean/dirty guitars switching off for effect. "Bakersfield" is introspective and soft.
"Megaphone" kicks in with a goofy organ in the mix, then reincarnates Husker Du.
And speaking of extraneous instrumentation, the rockin "Long Live the Fleshtones"
falls out of the box with a pumping horn riff, indeed recalling the good-time mania
of Peter Zaremba's famous house party band.

"Hot Spot" and "Three Times Yesterday" exhibit the introspective underbelly of Hoover's G-String,
and slow the album;s pacing down somewhat -- but not so slow that the funky "Schlitz Malt Liquor Bull"
can't pull it back up. Over the seventh-dominated porn-movie riff and the clinking of glass bottles,
Reinholz groggily spits out the name of the preferred beverage.

The political irritation of "Los Angeles" is fitting, coming from a Washington, DC outfit like Hoover's G-String
(even the name is a political joke -- the band's logo features a caricature of ol' J. Edgar in nothing but
a Speedo). "Los Angeles" gives way to "Overrated", a similarly constructed guitar workout
that veers into "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone" territory -- and a generally '77 feel -- with a descending vocal break.

Gargle ends with a bit of noodling entitled "Extra Tape...Plus." Reinholz's Concours-clean guitar runs through
some kind of digital filter in this bluesy bit of business, giving it extra thickness; all the better to compete
with brother/bassist Jim Reinholz and drummer Kelly Garton, who hold their own here as through
the rest of the album.

Actually the CD really ends with a series of secret tracks, the first of which is probably titled
"New Boyfriend," a story of a girl who is "so impressed with her new boyfriend / 'cause he beats
up all her old boyfriends." Part Great Plains, part Rainmakers, this tune is, surprisingly, one of the best
on the album.

From the evidence presented on Gargle, Hoover's G-String gives the impression of a great live
band, the kind you enjoy more and more as an evening of binge drinking rolls on. Fans of power-pop
and lightweight punk should give this band some attention.

RAGING SMOLDER MUSIC REVIEW

Hoover's G-String falls into the Indie Rock/Pop category sporting fine songwriting with
thought-provoking lyrics focused primarily on the personal frustrating relationships, et al) with a dash of political commentary ("Los Angeles"); featuring edgy vocals and fine arrangements and musical dynamics between guitars, bass, and drums, plus some fine
jazz-inflected instrumental passages. "Sick of Trying": "On the rebound with the sh*t
sound, tell your friends that you're cool and you're underground." "Insanity": "They say insanity runs in my family. I guess I come by it honestly." "Hot Spot": "I'm sure you got your reason. You're not the best one of the season, just the latest to make me lose my mind." Bonus: The excellent "New Boyfriend," "Open Arms," and "Riptide" from earlier EPs are included at the tail end of Gargle as "hidden" tracks.

POP CULTURE PRESS

With an odd name and a supremely ugly logo,
Hoover's G-String come bouncing out of Virginia riding a chunky (if thinly produced),
punky power pop sound sure to set toes a-tappin'. Unlike a lot of groups driving similar
vehicles, the trio (led by Jeff Reinholz) avoids pop culture irony for the most part
("Overrated" being an exception), instead pinning their hearts firmly to their sleeves to augment their examinations of romance and mental health. They also show a sure hand with simple, perky instrumentals like the horn-driven "Long Live the Fleshtones" and the funky "Schlitz Malt Liquor Bull." Strangely, though, they save their best material for the
section of unlisted bonus tracks at the end of the album, a series of melodic, affecting, emotional tunes without any particular stylistic guidelines. Time for some enterprising indie
label to remix and resequence this minor gem.

JERSEY BEAT

Indie pop from a DC-based trio with an affinity for the same high-energy,
feel-good riffpop as the early Goo Goo Dolls. The only differences are that Hoover's G-String replaces the Goos' occassional forays into adolescent thrash with 90 second blasts of instrumental pop-rock and Hooverite Jeff Reinholz's lead vocals are a lot less raspy than Johnny or Robby Goo.

Must be all that gargling.