Can Kickers

Lore & Background

The Can Kickers formed in 2000 while its members were students at Connecticut College. Their live show in Philadelphia on January 31, 2006, was recorded for a live CD released on Fistolo Records. In September 2006, they played their 500th show at the El 'n' Gee in New London. The band has toured Germany, the United States, Ireland, Mexico, and the Netherlands.

During their 2007 Mexican tour, they played over 30 shows alongside Polka Madre y La Comezon. Their van was pulled over 17 times while touring Mexico. Of their Guadalajara show, Mural described them and Polka Madre as a 'perfect combination which mixes such quite distinct styles as polka with a punk attitude.'

The band is represented on the 2006 compilation album Towers of New London, Vol. 4: Eminent Domain (Cosmodemonic Telegraph) with the song 'Johnny Walker.' Their discography includes several CDs and 7-inch vinyl releases on Arkam Records.

Reader's Guide

The Can Kickers occupy a niche in the Americana scene by merging traditional folk instrumentation—banjo, fiddle, washboard, jawharp—with a punk-influenced energy. Their sound, characterized as 'the Carter family meets the Ramones,' reflects a deliberate fusion of old-timey music and punk attitude. The band's extensive touring across multiple countries, including a notable 2007 Mexican tour where they performed over 30 shows and faced 17 police stops, underscores their grassroots, DIY approach. Their inclusion on the compilation Towers of New London, Vol. 4: Eminent Domain ties them to the local New London music community. While not widely known in mainstream circles, their recorded output on independent labels like Fistolo Records and Arkam Records, along with their live album from a Philadelphia show, documents a band committed to a raw, energetic live experience. Their significance lies in exemplifying how contemporary Americana can absorb punk's intensity without losing its folk roots.

Did You Know?

• The Can Kickers formed in 2000 while members attended Connecticut College.
• Their sound was described by the Huntsville Times as 'the Carter family meets the Ramones.'
• During their 2007 Mexican tour, their van was pulled over 17 times.
• They played their 500th show in September 2006 at the El 'n' Gee in New London.

From the College Quad to the New London Scene

The Can Kickers trace their roots to the halls of Connecticut College, where the three members first came together in 2000 as students. What began as a college-era musical project quickly took on a life of its own, anchoring the group permanently in New London, Connecticut, a small coastal town that would become both their home base and a recurring theme in their identity. Rather than dispersing after graduation or chasing the typical post-college scatter, the trio committed to building a local scene around their brand of Americana. Their sound drew from old-time and folk traditions while injecting a punk energy that set them apart from more conventional roots acts. This grounding in a specific New England community gave the band a sense of place and purpose, and their connection to the town would later be acknowledged when they contributed a track to a local compilation celebrating New London's musical output. The college origins also shaped their approach: DIY, collaborative, and unafraid to mix genres that might seem unlikely in combination.

A Sound Between the Carter Family and the Ramones

The Can Kickers occupy a distinctive niche in the Americana landscape, one that critics have struggled to categorize with a single label. The Huntsville Times captured their essence by comparing them to the Carter Family crossed with the Ramones, a pairing that speaks to the tension at the heart of their music: deeply rooted folk instrumentation delivered with punk speed and aggression. The trio's instrumentation reflects this duality. Doug Schaefer drives the rhythm section on drums and washboard while adding vocals, Daniel Spurr handles banjo and gitfiddle alongside yodeling, and Daniel Thompson contributes fiddle, mouth organ, and jawharp. Together these instruments create a texture that is simultaneously rustic and raw. Mural, reviewing a Guadalajara show, noted the band's ability to blend polka with a punk attitude, while EconoCulture described their output as old-timey riot music made for dancing. The result is a sound that refuses to sit still in one genre box.

Five Hundred Shows and a Van Full of Stories

Live performance is where The Can Kickers truly come alive, and their touring history reads like a picaresque adventure. The band has played shows across the United States and internationally in Germany, Ireland, Mexico, and the Netherlands, building a reputation as a relentless live act. A milestone arrived in September 2006 when they marked their five-hundredth show at the El 'n' Gee in their hometown of New London. Their 2007 Mexican tour was particularly eventful: the band played more than thirty shows while traveling alongside Polka Madre y La Comezon, and their van was pulled over by authorities seventeen times during the trip. In Guadalajara, Mural praised the pairing, calling the two acts a perfect combination that mixed distinct styles. Back in the States, a January 31, 2006 concert in Philadelphia was captured on tape and released as a live CD through Fistolo Records, preserving the energy of their stage presence for listeners who could not be in the room.

A Catalog of Dead Music and Fire

The Can Kickers built their discography with a steady, self-directed pace, releasing a series of full-length albums between 2002 and 2007 that chart a clear artistic arc. Their early work, Dead Music I and Dead Music II (2002), established their voice before Mountain Dudes (2003) and Fire in the East, Fire in the West (2005) refined it further. The 2005 album also appeared as a 7-inch vinyl pressing on Arkam Records, a format that suited the band's punk-adjacent ethos. We're Dying But We Ain't Dead (2006) and the live recording Live at Lavazone (2007) rounded out their studio and live output during this period, while Dark Molly (2007) extended their 7-inch catalog on Arkam. Beyond their own releases, the band contributed the track "Johnny Walker" to the 2006 compilation Towers of New London, Vol. 4: Eminent Domain, issued by Cosmodemonic Telegraph, a local label that highlighted the musical talent emerging from their Connecticut hometown. This body of work, modest in quantity but consistent in vision, documents a band that valued the act of making and sharing music over chasing commercial scale.

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