Railroad Jerk

Railroad Jerk took the tropes of blues and roots rock, mixed them with the energy of punk and the clatter of noise rock, and hot-wired it all into a raucous, combustible sound that made them one of the most respected indie bands of their day. Emerging from the New York underground scene near the end of the 1980s, the group's taut, electrifying live show helped them win a deal with Matador Records, and their first two albums, 1990's Railroad Jerk and 1992's Raise the Plow, accurately captured their edgy attack. They made more effective use of the studio on 1995's One Track Mind, and "The Ballad of Railroad Jerk," "Rollerkoaster," and "Bang the Drum" earned spins on college radio, with the latter two also scoring MTV play. The band ended their run with 1996's The Third Rail, their best-realized studio effort.Railroad Jerk was formed in 1989 by guitarist and lead vocalist Marcellus Hall and bassist and vocalist Tony Lee in Trenton, New Jersey. Eager to put their musical ideas into action, they brought in guitarist Chris Muller and drummer Jez Aspinall and began storming clubs in New Jersey and New York. Their tough, angular sound attracted the attention of prominent East Coast indie label Matador Records, which signed Railroad Jerk, and their self-titled debut album was out by the end of 1990. By the time they started work on their second album, 1992's Raise the Plow, drummer Aspinall had dropped out of the group and guitarist Muller had been fired. Drummer Steve Cercio and guitarist Alec Stephen took their places for the recording. After touring in support of Raise the Plow, Cercio left Railroad Jerk and Dave Varenka took his place behind the drums. The band's third album, 1995's One Track Mind, proved to be their most successful, thanks to "The Ballad of Railroad Jerk" picking up considerable college radio airplay. Railroad Jerk also appeared in a pair of low-budget videos, "Bang the Drum" and "Rollerkoaster," that were aired on MTV; the latter even appeared on Beavis & Butthead, where the teenage losers commented upon Hall's coat and how roller coasters made them feel. The group wasted no time making a follow-up, and Matador released The Third Rail in 1996; it was the first time the band had the same lineup on two albums in a row. While The Third Rail received some of the best reviews of Railroad Jerk's career, it didn't match One Track Mind's sales, and Hall was interested in pursuing different sounds. After leaving Matador, the band recorded demos for a fifth album, but they broke up before they begin work in the studio; two songs from the rough tapes were issued as a Sub Pop Singles Club 7" in 2001, and the entire demo session was released as a digital download in 2022, titled Masterpiecemeal. After Railroad Jerk ended, Hall and Varenka recorded a pair of albums as White Hassle, playing stripped-down music with Varenka banging pots and pans rather than a conventional drum kit. In 2025, Matador Records released a 30th anniversary expanded edition of One Track Mind; along with a remastered version of the original album, the reissue included 17 bonus tracks, most taken from live performances and home-recorded demo tapes.
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