PRESS FOR SPLIT W/ ELEPHANT CHILD (released by Funny/Not Funny Records)
“The distortion, the feedback, the raw, desperate energy and almost bootleg feel of the production on the previously unreleased “Teenage Wasteland” and the fuzzy, pummeling charm of the alternate version of “Change The Subject” (heard on the Antler Tapes split) make this a whole ‘nother Demon Beat split worth having, and the hot, live feel of the production is great to hear.” – WVRockscene
PRESS FOR “BULLSHIT WALKS”
“10 songs doesn’t seem like a lot, but The Demon Beat make every second count in their latest full length album entitled Bullshit Walks. Coming in right around 43 minutes, 10 turns out to be a perfect number for well composed songs that demonstrate the Demon Beat’s expanding range of talents. In the shady casino card game that is the music industry, the Demon Beat have pulled cards from some of rocks greatest periods and have been playing their hand well. Shit, We’re 23 got them into the game, 1956 was the trick hand that surprised everyone, and Bullshit Walks is the ace in the pocket.” – Bucket of Rock
“Bullshit Walks is another in a string of incredible Demon Beat releases, and again, for about the thousandth time, I’m left wondering just why the hell these guys haven’t broken through yet. Audiences up and down the East Coast know what I’m talking about. Still, the way they do what they do by themselves is paying off in creative spades. In a region full of top-shelf talent and great music, the Demon Beat rises to the top, no doubt about it.” – Rock O’ Clock
“Evoking something like The Who + The Stooges equaling some neo-grunge, garage-based power rock three-piece, with echo/reverb-drenched vocals, cavernous, almost 80’s rock band drums, this review, given the guitars in parts, can be filed under feedback and distortion.
Following up on their eight-“movement” concept record 1956, the band seems to have incorporated some of the guitar tones from that release into their previously known melodic rock (pretty progressions & changes, well placed jammed out and sometimes experimental bridges, hooks and epic choruses inside of the loud/soft dynamic song structure) output, still, with Meisterhans’ familiar, alternately soulful crooning and gnarly singing.
That The Demon Beat has been self-recording and self-releasing (this time with help from Caustic Eye and art, again by Hudkins) their material only makes them even more punk rock, even more DIY than most bands. That they’ve established themselves, but still have a chip on their shoulder, and haven’t lost that energy and desperation that makes rock and roll great, will only continue to win them more fans, whether they get laid and/or rich and famous, or, not.” – WVRockscene
“…The Demon Beat are miles beyond just another bar band. Sure, they’ve got the riffs and the chops to fit the description, but backing up Meisterhans is an excellent rhythm section that propels each song from quiet, melodic build-up to full-on rock release. Remember that old “loud-quiet-loud” dynamic that made alternative music what it is today? The Demon Beat was listening.
Album opener “Nevermind” is a caustic four-chord frenzy that recalls Soundgarden’s heavier tunes. The raucous “Art School Girl” is a three-minute explosion of intense power chords and cymbals that plays like a punk anthem. “Jump My Bones” has the space to rock out then retreat, as any good blues-rock band knows how to do.
Though The White Stripes broke up and The Strokes might explore electronic avenues these days, The Demon Beat is here to ensure garage rock lives on.” – Verbicide Magazine
“…When a band is this good at the rock “sound” (and by the way, great drum sound on this record, I like that, not overly heavy, but nice and punchy with a good feel), they don’t need to dress it up with a bunch of fancy window dressing. Here are the songs, they seem to be saying, enjoy them without all the hype and flutter. It’s nice to hear a band be confident in their songs, knowing that this is where their strength lies.” – SLTM blog
“To close it all out, a strong and well defined effort from The Demon Beat, who have crafted an organic and no holds barred effort that defines experimental rock in its purest form and aims to break the mold of all the ordinary music that’s out there today.” 4 out of 5 – Music Box Pete
“The album clearly seems to be the group’s tightest, most thought out record. Beginning with a building energy in lead off in “Nevermind,” the band runs through the record with a fury. “Give Me All Your Money” is something begging for radio play with sounds stretching from early ‘60s to contemporary, blues-inspired garage rock and “Bang” evokes The Beatles from Abbey Road. The album’s second to last track, “Totally Blissed Out,” might even perk the ears of Hendrix. “Bullshit Walks,” to put it simply, is no bullshit.” – Graffiti Magazine
“The Demon Beat lives by one credo: If you play a riff often enough and loud enough, people will like it. And damned if they don’t have a point…What sets the Demon Beat apart is its energy…I’m an adrenalin junkie. And these boys come to play.” – Aiding & Abetting
“A Demon Beat show is an experience no one should miss. Not only is the music tight, but the energy is intense. I haven’t been to many shows where the entire audience pushes to the front of the stage to hang on every word and riff. Everyone dances, and I mean, everyone. These boys rock so hard, it hurts. They’re really loud, but in the best way.” - WV Sound
JEFF the Brotherhood/The Demon Beat live show review
PRESS FOR “1956″
“While the overarching vibe of 1956 ebbs and flows between cymbal crashing, distorted blues and hear-a-pen-drop quiet verse parts, The Demon Beat nails the loud/soft dynamic and fits the sound on 1956 into some of their previous hard rockin’ bluesy material. It’s nothing like “This Is No Fun,” or “Make My Move,” off last year’s Shit, We’re 23, more like the sound of “You Only Love Me When You’re Stoned,” off the Caustic Eye/Bud Caroll split they put out. A great sound, just a divergence from any pop or punk feel they’ve had.
Everybody who’s followed The Demon Beat to this point can tell they have a kind of throwback sound and style. But until now it’s been mainly a 60’s and 70’s feel. Pulling the 50’s into their sphere of influences only makes The Demon Beat that much more appealing to rock fans. While not much longer than a half an hour and recorded in just a few days, 1956, like a lot of The Demon Beat’s songs, seems years in the making.” – WVRockscene
“As an incurable fan of what-if, I’m drawn in by how the band bemoans the loss of opportunity and wonders how the course of rock & roll would have shifted if things had been different. There’s something sympathetic but also devilish about picking apart the bones of what could have been and pinpointing precisely when someone’s star started to fade…1956 is the conceptual mass heretofore hinted at around the edges of the Demon Beat’s releases. This is the sound of an awesome band studying the past to build the foundation of something incredible in the future.” – Rock O’ Clock
“1956 is ragged psychedelia at its cathartic best. But the extended passages of squealing, damaging guitar come across as anything but excessive, with a soulful, precise rhythm section keeping the instrumental breaks engaging. The swaying, locked-in, bass-and-a-drumkit hits have more in common with mid-20th-century R&B. There’s a nervous, quavering Neil Young quality, owing as much to Adam Meisterhans’ voicebox as to the wide swathes of crackling overdrive in his guitar playing. Yet there’s a hardness in the buried, seething vocals that makes 55-year-old resentment feel fresh and dangerous.” – Opinion Magazine
“The band has progressed quite a bit since last year’s Shit, We’re 23 and are almost in full on stoner rock mode with this album. If I had to describe it in one word it would be “epic”. Most of the 5 songs are around 8 minutes long, they blend seamlessly into each other, are simply titled “Movement 1″, “Movement 2″, etc, and the whole thing just begs to be listened to with gigantic headphones on your ears and mind altering substance of choice in your brain. Which is, I’m pretty sure what they were shooting for with this.” – A Truer Sound
“And as if we needed any further proof why this three-piece band from Shepherdstown, West Virginia is instantly legendary, they go and drop a new album on New Year’s Eve called 1956…Lyrically insprired by Carl Perkins, it leans on the psychedelic side, and it’s so raw…1956 gets filed into my “pure fucking genius” list of albums.” – Tranzmission
“Track “Movement 1″ introduces listeners to the album, showcasing the group’s ability to lure you in with ominous instrumentals that keep you searching for more without being too energetic and exhausting…Standout track “Movement 5″ impresses listeners with a powerful and undeniably catchy guitar riff. The incorporation of the more mellow side of Meisterhans’ voice with the exasperated (in a good way) sound of the guitar is a unique combination that allows The Demon Beat to blend in well with most current mainstream rockers. ”Movement 3″ proves the band’s got talent, solely based off of instrumentals alone. The track encompasses the variety of instrumental sounds the group has to offer, from punk to soul, zoning in on vocalist Meisterhans’ and bassist Riggleman’s entrancing rhythms.” – The Daily Athenaeum
“Any fan of the Demon Beat should welcome 1956 as a sign of the bands real depth as talented musicians in the genre. 1956 is full of long guitar riffs driven by a single drum kit and minimal vocals; it’s an album that’s full of well thought out substance.” – The Frederick News-Post
“This record is an astounding step forward stylistically for The Demon Beat. While their other albums are solid, the influence of Hendrix or The Black Keys is much apparent in the foreground. This time around however, the band’s own unique sound finally emerges, and instead of being the pillar to these songs, the influences now pepper the music, adding to their depth.
The production on 1956 is noticeably different as well. The sound is big and booming and open, yet still gritty & raw! It also possesses a laid back groove that is absent in their previous efforts. Going against the “singles” mindset, these songs take their time. Each one slowly building toward its climax and culminating with Adam Meisterhan’s signature guitar solos. The amount of time these guys spend touring is evident on this record, as the band is much tighter, the songs more realized, and the riffs incredibly catchy — “Movement 3″ will be stuck in your head for days. With a running time of 38 minutes, it’s just the right amount of music that keeps you wanting more.
While 1956 may not be on Pitchfork or Spin‘s radar yet, trust me when I say that this is one of the best albums you will hear in 2011.” – Synonymie
“These songs flow in to each other seamlessly, often sounding like one big jam session. There’s no way you’ll hear any of these songs on the radio. But from the slow, pounding, drums of the first track to the blazing guitar of the fifth, you have forty minutes of great psychedelic rock that needs to be listened to all together; this is truly a complete album.” – World Of Swirl
“This five-track masterpiece, which spans the course of about 38 minutes, is a hypnotic trip for the ears and the mind that is likely to leave you stranded in an altered state of musical bliss…Guitarist/vocalist Adam Meisterhans, bassist Tucker Riggleman, and drummer Jordan Hudkins have created an album that begs to be played over and over again.” – Modern Mystery
PRESS FOR “SHIT, WE’RE 23″
“As if “Bad Man”, the stand-out track from last year’s The Demon Beat EP, weren’t massive enough, the band has taken another stab at it and tacked on an extra minute and a half of screeching, crashing thunder. It stands head and shoulders above most other new music I hear these days, and it totally validates plunking down the cash for Shit, We’re 23.
A-plus material like this makes the Demon Beat a stunning live act. Frenetic but measured, their performances are less shows than they are very loud indoctrination into whatever cult Adam’s snake oil salesman is shilling for. Committed to tape, Shit, We’re 23 captures that spirit, gussies it up a bit, and sky-rockets into the wild blue yonder. If this creative arc is sustained, I don’t foresee the Demon Beat being kept from shouldering into rock & roll stardom.” – Mike Sizemore for Rock O’ Clock
“It’s not everyday that a group manages to condense everything great about 60s and 70s rock onto one shiny disc, but The Demon Beat have managed to do just that on their latest effort, Shit, We’re 23…Shit, We’re 23 is a musical journey. Each song is unique and flows seamlessly. I’d recommend this album to anyone without hesitation.” – Blow Up Your Blog
“Songs like ‘Millionaire’, ‘Memory Ain’t Enough’ and the inappropriately-titled ‘This is No Fun’ crackle with a live-in-the-studio flavor and DIY creativity that recall the more promising bands on What’s Up Matador?. Not that this is strictly indie–the Demon Beat are also prone to the sweeping intensity of classic rock bands like the Who, characterized by restless hooks and a staunch but unpredictable rhythm section.” – Ben Apatoff for Nokia Theater Times Square Examiner
“Oh, fuck all those pretentious bastards - THE DEMON BEAT call the shots with Shit, We’re 23 –they’ve opened the garage door and released a sound with an urgency that needs to be satisfied. There’s a raw power and once heard is totally addictive! A must have in your ears!” – NY Waste
“The Demon Beat came across my radar a few months ago, and when I first heard the song ‘Millionaire’, I was blown the hell away… Then I kept listening to the rest of the album, Shit, We’re 23, and it only got better from there…The song ‘Bad Man’ is on a whole other level. Singer/guitarist Adam Meisterhans slays the shit out of his guitar Jack White style on the track. This Shepherdstown, West Virgina trio is hands down one of the best rock bands out right now. Shit, they’re good.” – Ryan Wood for Tranzmission
“The Demon Beat puts on an amazingly energetic show featuring raw musicianship and scathing lyrics…This penchant for unadulterated rock music is causing crowds in the eastern United States to tune out the world and turn up the volume.” – Jess George for LA Music Blog
“[Shit, We're 23] is rock n’ roll with all the required ingredients: dirty southern-tinged riffs, liquor-soaked bluesy vocals, Hendrix-idolising solos, stoner-influenced grooves, and, yes, a shitload of swagger.” – InForty.com
“If The Black Keys had a bass player and played with the energy of The Stooges they would sound something like The Demon Beat. We’re 23 is a collection of ten exciting and raucous tracks that fulfills the expectations of those who have seen their exhilarating live shows…the bluesy fury of the closing track “Bad Man” is a truly staggering and arresting song that exemplifies the sensational talent that is The Demon Beat.” – John Allinder for On the Record
“The 10 track album is nothing but trademark Demon Beat. Once again, you have the quivering yowling blues vocals of front-man Adam Meisterhans laid over smooth bass-lines provided by Tucker Riggleman, capped off with the enthusiastically infectious percussive rhythms of Jordan Hudkins. Tracks like “You Got It” exemplify the typical Demon Beat sounds, a sweaty-blues-mosh-jam which somehow always finds time to sneak in a freaky breakdown at the most surprising moments…As an ensemble, they produce an excellent, gritty, rust-belted throwback rock sound that’s rare to hear these days.” – Mike Theis for The Shepherdstown Chronicle
“The raw and powerful voice of lead singer Adam Meisterhans is irresistible and relentless. His moaning makes The Demon Beat stand out from the rest of the up-and-coming music scene…Shit, We’re 23 shows The Demon Beat has realized its strengths as a group and has focused in on them and evolved to create its best album to date.” – The Daily Athenaeum
[The Demon Beat] returns with Meisterhans’ jangly guitars, insane solos, distorted noise jams and soulful, soulful, lovelorn crooning turning into painful shrieking and howling. ..The driving “Got You Movin’” and the funky “Millionaire” open Shit, We’re 23 with more of that same vibe, which is why you dug the band in the first place. Meisterhans intones “I’m gonna be a millionaire” psychotically, asserting “I’m a mover,” before building into the gutteral, frenetic choruses. With the harder, fuzzier tones, some of the new Demon Beat songs approach grunge, with Angus Young solos.” – WVRockscene
“”‘Got You Movin” starts the record with Jordan Hudkins’ syncopated drumming, introducing a fast beat. Adam Meisterhans’ vocals go between a scream and an almost-sexy whisper. And Tucker Riggleman’s bass gives the song its heart. With a calculated guitar, Meisterhans keeps the melody, and the guys start the record with a very solid song. Shit, We’re 23 shows a confident maturity from the Shepherdstown-based band.” – Rachel Allinder for The Shepherd University Picket