The latest spin on America’s oldest music

Some have tried it with two and made big noise, but trios are the foundation of rock and roll. Consider the Wombats, Cream, Nirvana, Motorhead, the Beastie Boys, ZZ Top, Green Day, the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and on and on. Add to that list The Record Company. File them under “blues trio.” Imagine a fuzzy bass sound borrowed from Motown’s basement, a singer who would sound legit on any Stax label recording, and a power drummer light on the fills but heavy on the bottom beat, and you have the latest spin on America’s oldest music. Call it blues for hipsters.

The thing about The Record Company is that they went from DIY jamming in an apartment living room in a Los Angeles suburb to the hallowed stage at Madison Square Garden in a year and a half. Marc Cazorla’s the drummer, with Alex Stiff on bass guitar. They both stay out of Chris Vos’s way. He’s the guitarist-singer-harmonica-playing-duck-walking-pogoing-crowd-surfing focal point of the band.

Jacked to the gills with the force of Vos’s stage energy, The Record Company’s blues craft came from growing up on Stooges and Stones albums. The Record Company soon gained work as an opening act on tours with Social D, Buddy Guy, and Blackberry Smoke. And by 2016, Rolling Stone was shortlisting the trio in their “Ten New Artists You Need to Know.”

The Record Company got nominated for Best Contemporary Blues Album at the 2017 Grammy Awards. They brought home no gold, but continue to make high-energy bluesy songs targeted at a younger audience that has no real connection to the form. Older listeners who are woozy with déjà vu? Yes, this is almost a repeat of the 1960s, when British kids in rock bands made history playing their versions of our blues.