“Riot” is the lead single from the JAB‘s upcoming album, Consume,out 4 February 2020 on Medicine Records. The term “scuzzy” has been used to describe the slashed-speaker, distorted rock ‘n’ roll practiced by the JAB, but this ain’t scuzzy at all. It’s soulful, complex, and the sound of smoldering rock ‘n’ roll ambitions and swagger presented in an infectious package. Easy comparisons rattle around in one’s rock ‘n’ roll mind: The attitudinal guitar playing of Billy Squier backing the over-the-top frontman-ness of Peter Wolf. Or Wolf leading the MC5. But none of those would really do this band justice. You just have to let them be who they are.
Frontman Jam Alker, a veteran of Chicago’s club circuit and a punk blues enthusiast, says, “This is a social conscious alarm clock going off next to society’s bed. It’s a rock ‘n’ roll call to action in response to the restless discontent and disempowerment so many feel in our society, a response to inequality, addiction, consumerism, violence. ‘Riot’ is the JAB’s mission statement.”