TWIN CITIES – November 30, 2020 – It’s somehow fitting in the over-the-top year of 2020 that the legendary Twin Cities rocker, Curtiss A (nee Almsted), would release Jerks of Fate December 4 on CD and over Bandcamp. It’s not only his first album in 33 years – but
also his finest recorded work in a storied artistic “career” stretching back to his earliest bands in the ‘70s, Wire and Thumbs Up. Now pushing 70, Almsted defined, in part, the intensely creative indie rock spirit prevalent in 1980s Minneapolis-St. Paul and around the country. And throughout the new disc’s 12 songs -- still fresh-sounding though many are decades old -- Almsted’s distinctive and soulful “Dean of Scream” vocals and the blistering rock guitar assault from his crack band are all skillfully contained but not restrained.

In an era of often predictable rock records – and the often short shelf life of single downloads -- Jerks of Fate is a welcomed anomaly, a daring throwback which still boasts a Side One and Side Two in the album credits (“one is darker stuff, two is more light-hearted and sometimes comical,” Almsted notes). And it was made like rock albums from 40-50 years ago in just 2-3 days – right before the Covid lockdowns in mid-March!

THE LENNON STREAM, COVID LOCKDOWNS AND TWO ADMIRING PRODUCERS

It also sounds like one his infrequent but always memorable live sets with players he’s worked with through the years, including drummer John Haga, killer guitarists Steve Brantseg and Terry Isachsen, keyboard player Gregg Inhofer and bassist Jeffrey Willkomm. Most will join him for the 41st Annual John Lennon Tribute at First Avenue December 8 – being streamed live from the legendary club starting at 7:30 pm.

The new album most likely would have never happened, despite the fact that Almsted has amassed more than 250 unrecorded songs over time. Thank two longtime admirers of his work -- and his persona -- producer-musicians John "Strawberry" Fields and the record’s Executive Producer, Brynn Arens. They decided they would try to capture on a studio album the Curtiss A people knew and loved, with all his charming eccentricities and singular talent. And they wanted the total package to look as good as it sounded, even hiring well known photographer Blake Bogdanovich for the cover images.

“Curtiss’ album would have been memorable if for no other reason than it was the last time I was in my studio over at Creation because of Covid,” Fields says, whose illustrious credits run from Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato and The Jonas Brothers to Ben Rector, Soul Asylum, The Dollyrots and many others. “I grew up knowing more about the Curtiss A lore initially – the basement full of rock ‘n’ roll stuff and comic book and alien figures, the Twin/Tone, Paul Stark years and all that – than I knew about him as an artist. Now that I got to work with the man, I can say he’s a true original, and in a way, there’s hasn’t been any rock figure like him since probably somebody like Tom Petty.”

SIDE ONE and SIDE TWO

Ironically Jerks of Fate features what at first sounds like an autobiographical song, “Lonely Cult of Myself” – but it was written in 1999 by his girlfriend – before they ever met -- fellow recording artist, Gini Dodds: “It was not about Curt, it was about loneliness affecting all regardless of income or status. But he always sang it when my band The Dahlias played it, since I don’t have a hard rock voice.” Add in other standout cuts like the oddly structured “Excitement,” the sobering up-tempo rocker, "You’re Gonna Die Someday” –- all Side One darker fare – and Side Two’s delectable “I Know You Love the Rain,” “Cottonmouth,” “The Hell I'm Going Through Now” and others and you get what Arens calls songs that have a ton of character.”

“Curt’s a lyrical fucking genius!” adds Arens, the former player in Flipp and other groups, who now resides in Nashville where he runs a recording studio. “At his core, he’s really a great blues and soul singer, with this cutting-edge rock-pop sensibility. His songs – like Curt himself – just have so much character. He knows what he wants from a song and delivers it every time. I think most of the takes on the vocals were all on the first take! TThe new record is just so good, I want to personally put him in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame.”

“I’m still a little in awe that I got to do a record with John Strawberry Fields and Brynn Arens,” Almsted says somewhat sheepishly, before gushing all Curt-like over the fact that “this is the only thing – still to this day – that resembles a real job. And I still get to do this stuff. I hope I get to do it again.”