“Nothing’s held sacred on the Shootin’ Pains sophomore LP, Pray Like Crazy. The local quintet unloads scathing country parodies that take on everything from religion to Big Oil to your cell phone. But that’s what you might expect from a twang group that includes two former members of formidable punk icons the Dicks - Buxf Parrott on banjo and Pat Deason on drums. The songs are hilarious, dark, and shot through with rotgut whiskey, the odd juxtaposition of familiar folk and country melodies with scathing contempt serving to accentuate everything that’s wrong with contemporary society. From the opening line of “Half Pint” (“There was a time when I was down on my luck, no fortune no fame and I just didn’t give a fuck”) delivered over a dark gypsy rhythm, it’s clear the Shootin’ Pains don’t really give a shit what you think. ”
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Austin Sound
“Every great bar needs a wizened codger who belches forth beery invective against the status quo. Shootin' Pains has five of them. The Austin quintet comes armed with Dicks veterans Buxf Parrott on banjo and Pat Deason on drums. The grizzled, slapdash demeanor of their railings against war, heartbreak, consumerism, and the workaday world makes 'em custom-warped for drunken ears. Guitarist Mark Kenyon's "My Great Downfall" chronicles the imprisonment of a ne'er-do-well turned in by a double-crossing love interest who's on the "path to God," while guitarist Todd Kassens' "Old Man Drinking Alone" is a poignant death waltz about the stranger at the end of the bar. Thankfully, Pray Like Crazy ends with "Lake McQueeney," a knee-slapping narrative about a near-arrest for drunken paddle boating. If there's such a thing as punk rock aging gracefully, these Shootin' Pains don't need no doctor.”
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Greg Beets, Austin Chronicle
“SHOOTIN' PAINS- MEAN OLD MOON
Get a load of the Shootin' Pains, the Dicks minus Gary Floyd and electricity but with punk nihilism to spare. "I don't care if you go to church when you still act like a jerk" won't win them many friends in the Bible Belt, but like the song says, "I Don't Care." The rest of Mean Old Moon is just as crotchety and critical, "An American/My God" especially, and closes with a fine bit of Celtic swagger on "Drink and Fight.”
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Christopher Gray, Austin Chronicle
“SHOOTIN' PAINS- MEAN OLD MOON
File the first full-length from Austin's Shootin' Pains right near the gonzo country of the last couple singles by San Fran's Dils, right before they morphed into Rank and File. This is country/folk gone beserk with lots of barbed social commentary, alcoholic daydreams, and funny asides. As a kind of radical roots spinoff from Austin punk legends the Dicks and the Punkaroos (singer/writers Mark Kenyon [guitar] and Buxf Parrott [bass] contribute most of the songwriting) there's plenty of outsider themes in these songs, which cast an apocalyptic and nihilistic eye, respectively, in "Cities in Flames" and Todd Kassen's "I Don't Care". The centerpiece is "Outside of Life," which with its picture of both fierce individualism and of Life," which with its picture of both fierce individualism and of pathos and disconnectedness, cuts both ways, and is emblematic of how powerful this band can be.
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Luke Torn, Pop Culture Press
“SHOOTIN’ PAINS- MADMAN’S DIARY EP
Austin punk lore takes a turn for the weird here (would you expect any less?), as ex-Dicks Buxf Parrott and Pat Deason team up with Punkaroos guitarist Mark Kenyon, ex-Shoulder Todd Kassens, and Tom Fairchild on this all this all-too-brief trip towards the mustier corners of dark Americana, Johnny Cash style. A creepy fatalism marks songs like “10,000 Miles,” not far away from tone and sound from Appalachian hillbilly music of decades ago. There’s plenty of humor among the hard-won truths here, too, as in “T’s 4 Texas,” where the protagonist is none the worse for wear despite doing hoosegow time for an auto breakdown on Interstate 35. Even more impressive is “Madman’s Diary,” a rattling, guitar-driven meditation less concerned with death than what the dead man left behind. And it’s safe to say that “Parasite/Host” manages to put a rare new spin on drinkin’ songs- how often can you say that? Perhaps a full elpee proper, bo”
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Luke Torn, Pop Culture Press
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