You know a band means business when it announces their new release, “features songs mostly whipped into shape on beer-stained North Carolina stages over a year.”
It means they’re creating fresh material and playing live. After 2025’s three-track EP, Hit After Hit After Hit, Knockout Artist released their 10-song debut album, Ramshackle Deluxe, on May 15, reflecting a distinct songwriting and performance ethos.
This is an eclectic collection of songs, structured and displaying solid craft. The scaffolding allows each one to wobble on purpose and almost veer deliciously off track. There’s a loose but edgy amalgamation of sound that comes crashing through and keeps the listener engaged with uncertainty.
Knockout Artist’s sound is made by Carrboro resident Phil Venable (lead vocal/guitar), Danny Hooley (guitar/vocals), Sim Berkley (pedal steel), Mat Neal (bass), and Rock Forbes (drums/percussion/vocals).
There’s a band sound, and each track has a personal soundscape, with the album spanning garage rock, rebel country, psychedelia, some Motown for good measure and a punk vibe throughout.
The energetic “Night 2” opens Ramshackle Deluxe (“She wears the moon like heavy leather / Made of words that will last forever,”) and it closes with the extended cut, “Stepping on My Grave.”
The latter has a long instrumental section of clashing guitars and pedal steel that build up to a punk breakdown as the song ends, hinting at how Knockout Artist could reinterpret their songs live in jam session fashion.
One slow tune, “Lonely,” is underscored by acoustic guitar and pedal steel creating a quiet weariness, to match lyrics like: “And at night I don’t sleep too well / My memories are an evil spell.”
You can imagine blasting the rhythmic “You & Me & the Rain” on an aimless road trip with the windows down (“I drove my car down I-85 / And I was wondering why I was alive”). Together with “Running Out of Time,” it’s the album’s most commercial offering, and both deserve airplay.
It’s refreshing that Knockout Artist takes care with background vocals for a fuller sound. The band’s sonic palette is enhanced by having a versatile pedal steel player.
Fleet guitar solos and layered instrumental parts — recorded and engineered by Tim Harper for clarity and balance — with a vocal mix that keeps the lead vocals upfront, and an adaptable and pulsing rhythm section completes the picture. Experience Knockout Artist for yourself at their album release show at The Cave, 452 ½ West Franklin Street in Chapel Hill on Saturday, May 23 at 9pm. Sonic Blooms opens.