Volk “Towards the Setting Sun” 2023. Romanus Records, limited edition “Marble Morning Dew” variant. Volk’s first live album, recorded at shows throughout 2022 while on tour with the Supersuckers. We caught Volk in Janesville on Sunday afternoon at the Looking Glass bar and grille; they are about to start another leg of their current tour with Electric Six and the Supersuckers (they play Madison tomorrow) and it was so great to see and catch up with them. We arrived about 15 minutes late, and probably missed them play one of my favorite songs, “I Fed Animals” which appears on Towards the Setting Sun, recorded at The Saint in Asbury Park, NJ. But we did arrive near the start of another favorite, “Honey Bee” (on this LP recorded at the Rickshaw Theatre, Vancouver BC) and they were already tearing the packed bar down with their brand of raucous cow punk.

Other show highlights included one of their newer songs, “Pop Song,” and the epically thundering “Welcome to Cashville” (Eleot’s drum prowess is always beyond!) from their 2021 debut Cashville. Both tracks are on Towards the Setting Sun: “Pop Song” recorded at Three Links Deep Ellum in Dallas (Chris threatens to go Dee Synder on the crowd’s “mother-fucking asses,” I’m not sure why!) and “Cashville” at Alex’s Bar in Long Beach.

But far and away the afternoon’s highlight was their performance of the Ray Wylie Hubbard cover “Snake Farm.” It was so nice, they played it twice! Once midway through the main set and then again as part of the encore. The crowd was equally as enthusiastic both times, with a crowd sing along and dancing (well, really one dude doing a skank/pogo hybrid thing, the rest of us doing the stand-in-one-place head-nod/ass-shake). I think this is also when Chris did a guitar solo, strolling down the bar. On Towards the Setting Sun that track was recorded at the Swan Dive in Austin, Texas. (I bet they didn’t get to hear it twice)

I didn’t record any video on Sunday, but here’s a relatively recent performance of “Snake Farm” from a show at Mortimers in Minneapolis (2023); it’s been fun to see how this song has evolved at their shows over the past few years – each time it’s different, sometimes more punk and sometimes a bit psychedelic (like in this video):