The Junk Rock Radio tour hosted musical group Recycled Percussion last month at Murfreesboro’s own MTSU. Bringing trash cans, LED lights, fire extinguishers and some very talented musicians, MTSU students were lucky to witness a slice of this national tour.
The eclectic genre of Recycled Percussion is “junk rock,” a name given as a result of the usage of trash cans and other “junk” as instruments. Setting up stage with two huge drum sets composed of everything from drum barrels to steel sinks, the trash thrashing began. Regardless of any given genre title, these guys are honestly unclassifiable.
Proving this, Percussion did a lengthy composition with characteristic traits of over nine different genres. This jam started with heavy metal and progressed through reggae, techno, ska, classic rock, big band jazz, old school hip-hop, and even some punk rock. Each genre was announced by a voice portraying a radio DJ and then the guys would play a beat modeled from that particular genre.
Justin Spencer is obviously the backing force behind this New Hampshire coalition of musicians. His incredible drumming skills were showcased immediately as he played under his legs, behind his back, and made it a point to bounce his drum sticks off the drums and then catch them without ever missing a beat. Holding true to claims of being able to play at an incredible rate of 20 beats per second, Spencer shredded a good 20 sticks in this one-hour show. Alongside drumming, Spencer also did a wildly impressive beat boxing session that could have passed as an audio file composed of drums over a Timbaland beat.
The talent of these guys was slightly shadowed by the fact that the majority of their set was made up of cover tunes such as Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer.” The zenith of this show was without a doubt the 12-minute nonstop solo performed by Spencer. This guy played so fast that it became hard to differentiate between his two hands. During one portion of his solo, Spencer placed his feet on top of the drums in front of him and then fixed two sticks into the laces of his shoes. He then shelled out a beat arranged only from the gums of his shoe soles and the two sticks he had placed there.
Backing Spencer was an entire band, featuring Todd Griffin (DJ Pharaoh), guitarist Jimmy Nash, and fellow drummer Ryan Vezina. Every one of these guys was very talented and about halfway through the show left their instruments to join a six-man drum circle. The DJ, guitar player, stagehand, and even the sound guy all got on stage and grabbed some form of percussion instrument. Meanwhile, Spencer and Vezina went backstage and retrieved two 10-foot ladders, which they proceeded to climb up and down using the rungs as drum faces. Once at the top of the ladders, these drumming cousins would slide down in unison, crashing their sticks onto every step.
After this chaotic cadence, each Percussion member went back to his respective positions and did another original song. Spencer then announced that he did not want to end the show with an original and so Percussion did one last medley, this time featuring widely known songs. Lasting for about six minutes, the group covered hits by artists such as AC/DC, Quiet Riot, Green Day, Led Zeppelin, Metallica and even the unexpected Maroon 5. As this cover compilation was coming to a close, these guys began tearing apart their drum sets as they beat the hell out of them. Eventually leaving only Nash on this trashed stage, he closed out this energetic set with a Hendrix-style rendition of the National Anthem.
