New Jersey Stage logo
New Jersey Stage Menu



 

Makin Waves Record of the Week: "Dark Country" by Little Vicious


By Bob Makin

originally published: 05/09/2019


Little Vicious will release their “Dark Country” LP on May 17, which will coincide with a video shoot for the track “Soul Collector” at Whitechapel Projects in Long Branch.

During the 12 months that she has been able to devote to her music full time, bad-ass shredder Marguerite King has been able to make Little Vicious one of the best bands in New Jersey and their forthcoming LP, “Dark Country,” proves it.

The cover of Little Vicious’ forthcoming LP, “Dark Country,” depicts a woman with a serpent tattoo handing a skeleton key over to another woman. Perhaps this symbolizes main creative force Marguerite King selling her rock ‘n’ roll soul to the devil. Granted, when she first returned home around 2017 to the Asbury Park area after a few years of success in the Fort Collins, Colorado music scene, Little Vicious was good, initially a two-piece with Marguerite on guitar and a rotating seat of drummers. Now a trio featuring bass to pick up a fat, wicked-sounding bottom, LV have become face-meltingly awesome because Marguerite can devote herself to her music fulltime rather than a pesky day job. Yet, the devil lurks in the shadows, waiting, wanting one more dance with her wildly radiant spirit.    

“Dark Country” is Marguerite’s 12-song dance down the imposing mountains of Boulder across a whiskey-rattled cigarette-chain highway to the citified seaside of Asbury Park. Overcoming adversity and disappointment, she keeps on keepin’ on, becoming a local legend in a city filled with them, their faces blasted onto public buildings like a musical Mount Rushmore. 

If it was the early 1990s, the album’s smokin’, gnarly mix of stoner rock, blues, punk and pop would be described as grunge. While that description may seem dated, the spine-rattling results are similar. 

Three things are certain: 




Please support the advertisers at New Jersey Stage!
Want info on how to advertise? Click here



Among the many things I love about “Dark Country” are the false endings or pregnant pauses on “Hit You Right,” a spooky inversion of Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition,” the soul-snarled “… To Be Honest,” “Soul Collector,” a grunge tornado that examines the shame of being vain with a dual guitar solo overlain between Marguerite and herself, and the standout “Voodoo.” The Makin Waves Song of the Week at AsburyMusic.com, Spotify and YouTube, “Voodoo” is a trippy lust fest that sounds like the soundtrack to an orgy in an opium den, which should make Monster Magnet fans clamor for Little Vicious as an opening act. 

The Song of the Week is whichever tune most sticks in my head while listening to and writing about the Record of the Week. “Voodoo” had some stiff competition with the infectious thunder of the opening “Make Me Wait,” which dichotomously might appeal to the fans of the punk-fueled emotion of Screaming Females and the gritty, grimy blues of Nashville Pussy. Equally great is “Hold Ya’,” the spawn of a ’60s girl group if they had a rock ‘n’ roll baby with MC5. 

“Dark Country” also features a couple of cool Nirvana guitar references, such as the tuned-down guitar squawk on the eerie “Reign Electric” and the “Smells like Teen Spirit” shuffle on the bluesy “Fade.” The album also includes the blasting punk-rap of “Surf Dance Strip Beats,” the empowering outlaw strut of “Blood Spitter,” the bewitching breakup of “Sweet Sorrow,” and the fiery closer, “Spotlights,” which sums up all the passion that went into “Dark Country.”  

As good as this album is, Little Vicious are even better live. On May 15, they’ll play the Wonder Bar in Asbury with Demob Happy, cleopatrick and BRKN LOVE, and on May 17 at Whitechapel Projects in Long Branch, they’ll make a video for the bone-crushing “Soul Collector.” After they rock Orlando’s Standard Music Co. again on June 10, they’ll take a bit of a break from the road before playing New York, Philly and Asbury in late July and then the Southeast in mid-August. 

 

 

Bob Makin is the reporter for MyCentralJersey.com/entertainment and a former managing editor of The Aquarian Weekly, which launched this column in 1988. Contact him at makinwaves64@yahoo.com. And like Makin Waves at www.facebook.com/makinwavescolumn.



New Jersey Stage is proud to be the home of Bob Makin's Makin Waves column since 2017. His Song of the Week column comes out every Friday. He also writes an Album of the Month and Interview of the Month as well.



Please support the advertisers at New Jersey Stage!
Want info on how to advertise? Click here





FEATURED EVENTS

ART | COMEDY | DANCE | FILM | MUSIC | THEATRE | COMMUNITY

To narrow results by date range, categories,
or region of New Jersey
click here for our advanced search.


Curtis

Curtis Salgado

Wednesday, July 02, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Lizzie Rose Music Room
217 E. Main Street, Tuckerton, NJ 08087
category: music

Click here for full event listing

 

John

John Lee & Friends

Thursday, July 03, 2025 @ 7:30pm
The Morris Museum Back Deck
6 Normandy Heights Road, Morristown, NJ 07960
category: music

Click here for full event listing

 

Blues

Blues People with Special Guest: Jeff Levine

Saturday, July 05, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Lizzie Rose Music Room
217 E. Main Street, Tuckerton, NJ 08087
category: music

Click here for full event listing

 

Straight

Straight No Chaser - Summer: The 90’s Part 2

Tuesday, July 08, 2025 @ 7:00pm
Bergen Performing Arts Center (bergenPAC)
30 North Van Brunt Street, Englewood, NJ 07631
category: music

Click here for full event listing

 

Frisson

Frisson Winds

Thursday, July 10, 2025 @ 7:30pm
The Morris Museum Back Deck
6 Normandy Heights Road, Morristown, NJ 07960
category: music


Click here for full event listing

 

More events

Event Listings are available for $10 and included with our banner ad packages




 

EVENT PREVIEWS

An

An Interview with Dan Kurtz of The New Deal

Formed in 1999, Toronto, Canada based trio The New Deal, is a pioneer in jam-based electronic music. The group was founded by remaining members Dan Kurtz (bass) and Jamie Shields (keys), along with Darren Shearer (drums) who left tND in 2011. Since its inception, tND has remained committed to its improvisational roots and has served as a model for other jamtronica bands bridging the gap between multiple music genres as well as the border between Canada and the United States.



Two

Two NJ Jazz Musicians Will Play with The Jazz Ambassadors in Morristown

Pianist Anthony Pocetti grew up in Hamilton, NJ, studying piano, "doing sort of traditional piano lessons. I have an uncle who was always encouraging me to get into the jazz thing. He gave me the (Miles Davis) Kind of Blue CD, and he knew that the jazz pianist Jim Ridl was living in Hamilton."



Asbury

Asbury Lanes presents There, There - A Tribute to Radiohead

(ASBURY PARK, NJ) -- Asbury Lanes presents There, There on Saturday, July 12, 2025 at 8:00pm. They are the premier Radiohead tribute act, playing songs from throughout the band's iconic multi-decade catalogue.



bergenPAC

bergenPAC presents Straight No Chaser - Summer: The 90's Part 2

(ENGLEWOOD, NJ) -- After a totally fly 2024 summer tour packed full of 90s boy band, pop, and R&B hits, RIAA-certified Gold a cappella group Straight No Chaser is back by popular demand with "Straight No Chaser Summer: 90s Part 2." The tour comes to Bergen Performing Arts Center (bergenPAC) on Thursday, July 8, 2025 at 7:00pm.



Blue

Blue Curtain presents 2025 Summer Concert Series in Princeton

(PRINCETON, NJ) -- Blue Curtain returns to Pettoranello Gardens Amphitheater this July with a free three-concert series. The 2025 season opens on Saturday, July 12 at 8:00pm with a performance by internationally acclaimed trombonist, composer, and bandleader Jimmy Bosch, also known as El Trombon Criollo.