More than thirty years after its original 1993 CD release, Ugly Stick’s Absinthe is roaring back into the spotlight—this time on vinyl and digital platforms. Formed in Delaware, Ohio in 1989, Ugly Stick carved out a sound that was equal parts Los Angeles punk and Midwestern heartland rock, blending the grit of X with the melodic punch of Tom Petty. Critics would later hail their work as “genre-crossing” and “seminal,” and with this long overdue reissue by Hovercraft Records, Absinthe is ready for rediscovery by new ears and old fans alike.
A Sound Forged in Middle America
Ugly Stick were uniquely positioned to capture the tension and creativity of small-town, post-industrial America. Their music—dubbed “cow-punk”—carried both the edge of beer-soaked garage nihilism and the expressiveness of roots rock, filtered through a landscape of carnival posters, endless farm fields, and collapsing barns. As Columbus Alive once declared, Absinthe was “the bedrock of the Cowtown sound,” cementing Ugly Stick’s place at the heart of the early ’90s Columbus music scene.
Remastered and Expanded for 2025
Hovercraft Records has remastered the album for its first-ever vinyl and digital release, adding bonus material from the band’s contemporaneous live shows and unreleased studio sessions. This expanded edition not only preserves the raw energy of the original but also offers deeper insight into Ugly Stick’s creative process.
Ahead of Their Time
The remastered release highlights just how prescient Ugly Stick’s sound was. “Their mix of punk, college rock and alt-country was years ahead of its time,” noted Daggerzine. Exclaim! praised their ability to “straddle the line between genres,” while Belgium’s Rootstime called them “pioneers of a genre and a sound which was baptized as the Columbus sound.”
What Makes Absinthe Stand Out
Absinthe’s ambition shines through its restless mix of punk energy, alt-country storytelling, and garage swagger. “Here, the grit of American roots mingles satisfyingly with Midwestern classic rock guitars, eighties jangle-pop, and frantic rhythmic contortion,” wrote Skyscraper. The album’s originality and boldness are as striking today as they were in the early ’90s. As Jersey Beat put it, “originality is abundant.”
Enduring Legacy
Ugly Stick’s music may be rooted in a specific time and place, but its influence has endured. The Riverfront Times captured their spirit: Ugly Stick “capture the beer-soaked nihilism of the worst dive bar.” Germany’s Home of Rock praised their blend of “punk, country, hillbilly-Gedudel and—yes, really good at melodies.” That balance of rawness and tunefulness helped Ugly Stick inspire countless bands, with the Bloomington Herald Times noting that “countless bands have followed in their footsteps.”
Order Ugly Stick Music & Merchandise
With Absinthe back in circulation, Ugly Stick’s pioneering blend of cow-punk, garage grit, and Midwestern storytelling is ready to be discovered by a new generation. This is more than a reissue—it’s an invitation to revisit a defining moment in the American underground, when the Columbus sound was born and Ugly Stick stood at its forefront.
Order your copy of Ugly Stick’s Absinthe and explore exclusive merchandise through Hovercraft Records. Don’t miss the chance to own a piece of music history! https://uglystickohio.bandcamp.com/
Interview with Al Huckabee, guitar player for Ugly Stick
How would you describe your music?
Ugly Stick is lucky enough to be an intersection of friends. The four of us have wide ranging and overlapping musical tastes so when we get together and write music we are trying to make music we like. We grew up together, went to the same schools, learned to play music together and have a wealth of common memories and stories. So all the music we make is rooted in these collective experiences and tastes, even worldviews perhaps. We have always tried to make something cool and engaging out of the town we lived in, the place we come from. The music itself is rock and roll, its heavily based in roots music and we take inspiration from the Cramps, the 80’s LA band X, the rolling stones so even we were kind of surprised at how twangy our music is. It’s the terroir I suppose. It has a punk energy, can be kind of spasmodic and quixotic but we have always done a pretty good job of being ourselves, staying curious and seeing what comes out at the end of the recording process.
How do you deal with writer’s block?
Easy. Ugly Stick waited fifteen years between recording Absinthe and our next album, Still Glistening. If you ever have any trouble with writer’s block just take 15 years off and the ideas will flow like water.
What is your favourite song to perform?
It’s a toss up. I love a county weeper like “Crib Death Reel” but there is a visceral pleasure that comes with delivering a driving number like “Boss”.
Do you have any rituals before you hit the stage? If so, what are they?
No rituals before the show but I sing backing vocals on some of our songs and so does Eddie Mann (bass) and we’re often on the same mic. Ed figured out a long time ago that I sometimes take cues from him on when to sing the vocal parts. Once he understood that he started doing this little feint where he would take big breath and move his face closer to the mic just to trick me into thinking it was time for us to sing. I almost always fell for it. So he would take a breath, lean towards the mic and NOT sing. And I would gullibly follow his lead and…sing…at the wrong time. I do recall one happy day I used his own trick against him successfully getting him to blurt out the vocal part in exactly the wrong place but more often than not I a have been the victim of his cruel and heartless on-stage tomfoolery.
What’s the best show you’ve ever played?
I can tell you without a doubt the release party show for this Absinthe LP was by far the best. This particular show was in a brick warehouse space in Delaware, OH, and also on the bill were the Dumpies from Portland, OR and Golomb from Columbus, OH. Hard to describe the crowd scene but it was something like a reunion or a convergence. The venue was kind of below the radar, the place was packed with a lot of old freinds and lots of people we didn’t know. My Mom (89 years old) was not only in attendance but she told me later that while she watched Ugly Stick’s set she started doing some mental calculations about where best in the building to stand because the floor was moving so much she predicted its collapse.
Where was your current project recorded?
Our current release is a reissue of an album we recorded more than 30 years ago. Hovercraft Records has re-released the album Absinthe which we recorded in the basement of the house the band lived in in Delaware, OH. We had borrowed an open reel 8 track Fostex machine and a simple mixer. The setup was very rudimentary but the fact that we weren’t paying any money to record meant we could mess around all we wanted. We were able to try endless recording approaches and experiments, endless takes. It was a total blast, complete freedom. At some point just before we made Absinthe I got it in my head that we should record in a “real” studio. I called Sun Studios in Memphis with the idea of booking us down there for the cachet and all the cool historical reasons. I had very memorable conversation with the guy who ran Sun at the time. I got him on the phone and asked about booking rates and schedules and he explained that at Sun Studios he charged by the song. By the song? I asked him how that would work and he rattled off some prices like $300 for one song, $500 for two songs, etc. Being accustomed to our multi-track record-all-you-like-every-day lifestyle I asked him what he would charge if it took us 3 days to record a song. He said “Son, if it takes you three days to record one song you’ve got more problems than I can help you with”.
What are your plans for any future releases?
We are delighted to let you know more re-releases of our early albums are in production now and we have a pocketful of demos of new songs we’re excited about. This is the usual gestation process for us so that means releases of new material in 2027.
What makes you nostalgic?
Nostalgia makes me nostalgic.
What I mean by that is that some songwriters use what I call “built-in nostalgia”. Bob Seger does it all the time, The Pretenders did it to great effect. When the lyrics of the songs seem to be expressions of nostalgia like in Back on the Chain Gang: “I found a picture of you, those were the happiest days of my life” I think it gives the listener a kind of permission to then feel nostalgia for that song. I came of age in the 80’s and the radio was full of that stuff, like Brian Adams’ Summer of ’69. It’s kind of fascinating how well it works. When I was 9 years old I was singing along to the Four Seasons Oh What a Night, now it kind feels like PsyOps. You know you’re onto something powerful if you can make 3rd grader wistful for “late September back in ’63”.
You are a new addition to a crayon box. What colour would you be and why?
I would pick a color that was only one slight shade different from a well known and respected color in hopes of causing confusion and consternation within the crayon box.
Are you a cat or dog person?
I am a dog person for obvious reasons and shall remain so until a cat can be relied upon to make a decent gin and tonic.
INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK | BANDCAMP | YOUTUBE
