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There exists an atmosphere within songs that calls back to specific moments in history. With Andrew Jambura’s new single “Beer Is My Drink,” the ’70s are alive again. The song radiates energy that Lester Bangs would have called the end of rock ’n’ roll, while a stadium crowd would have twirled their hearts out.
With John Anderson on vocals/guitar, Derek Marinello on drums, Chris Frahm on bass and Emily Wagner-Morrow on backing vocals, Jambura has built a star studded team that honed in on a singular sound. The track’s bright atmosphere shines from a punchy bass and hardwired drums that are just so tight. The fuzzy guitar never takes center stage and instead constantly chugs around, almost at random, with so much flavor that it leaves the listener dumbstruck.
Each musician builds into a stellar whole to create a rock-solid balance. Listening to each individual section, you can hear the conversation taking place throughout the instrumentation — a sonic dialogue among musicians that continues in the lyrics:
And can you play guitar?
Seems easier than it looks
But you were born a star
I could read about your name in books
The song seems written with this conversation in mind, but through a specific perspective. There’s a sense of yearning — artistically and emotionally — that exudes from Jambura’s words. How do you quantify the feeling of unconditional love in every sense of the word? How do you make it make sense, looking at a lover, a friend or a pet without feeling like your whole world is going to implode?
Jambura likens this incalculable feeling to comic books, a perfect life where the perfect outcome can be achieved:
It’s funny how it’s harder now to really mean it
Every year, expanding sphere of what I see and
Nothing goes, it only shows itself as bigger
An endless strip of comic quips and cartoon figures
There's this radical acceptance that comes from meeting someone new, an understanding that this might be someone you share years or minutes with. That there really isn’t a proper way to comprehend the weight of someone's being until they're gone, but that's just the way life goes. So, in Jambura’s view, take a swig, jump into a lake and enjoy the avalanche that comes after you say hi to someone for the first time:
So there I was
I was in the backseat of my own car
We were twistin’ up rugs
When I took the long walk off the short pier
Took my shirt off
Could not see clear
Drank my own weight in imported beer …
Beyond being a Milwaukee musician since the 2010s, Jambura — along with Josh Evert and Chuck Zink — helped build Silver City Studios into a community space where young bands can make their own art. It’s a standing testament to how the city’s music scene can spring up in any corner, while “Beer Is My Drink” brings a more bittersweet perspective that still percolates with sweet Milwaukee rock.
Jonathan Joseph is a Milwaukee-based multimedia freelance journalist who specializes in art and culture writing (and all things Milwaukee), with work appearing on Radio Milwaukee and in Milwaukee Magazine. Contact him via email or find him on LinkedIn.