Now this is a remarkable backstory. Milwaukee artist John Chiaverina has spent twenty years making pretty good songs under the moniker of Juiceboxxx, as a rapper that is. Musically it rocked quite a bit though, for example check out the videos for Freaking Out, In the Basement or Walking in Milwaukee, and he’s now moving in that direction. Juiceboxxx has left, come in Rustbelt. Under that name Chiaverina has now released a self-titled debut EP featuring four nice indie rock tunes – he calls it underdog pop himself – with an early 2000’s vibe and a slight emo touch, in which he tries to find out who he really is: “Introduce my name any way that you see fit // Your guess as good as mine with any of that shit // I’ll keep on floating on like a sailor lost in the sea // I never wanted to be me, ooh.” It’s an interesting and promising quest – you can’t completely separate the new from the old, the punk attitude has always been there – that turns out surprisingly well.
Rustbelt’s self-titled EP is out now digitally through Dangerbird Records.
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