DRUG RUG with SHELTER WITH THIEVES, BRIGHTON SURLY and the QUARRY at the Horseshoe (370 Queen West), Tuesday (August 18), 9 pm. Free. 416-598-4753.
Tommy Allen knows there’s a price for naming your band Drug Rug. The Cambridge-based psych pop group, led by guitarist Allen and singer/guitarist/girlfriend Sarah Cronin, waived their right to hassle-free border crossings the day they decided to travel under that eyebrow-raising moniker.
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“Yeah, [customs officials] love that name,” Allen says sarcastically. “They make me pull everything out of the van, open everything up. They’re always like, Drug Rug, huh? Get out of the van.'”
Allen defines the term as “one of those shitty Baja ponchos that people wore in the 60s and 70s.” He was inspired by Kurt Russell’s character, Jack Burton, in Big Trouble In Little China, who rocked a rugged-looking drug rug.
But when it comes to the band’s music – 60s groove with treble-heavy guitars and duelling vocals, as heard on their just-released sophomore effort, Paint The Fence Invisible (Black & Greene) – inspiration often comes through the AM dial.
“Our van only gets AM, so we listen to this station called Memories 740,” he says. “We love the 60s, and the station doesn’t play anything beyond the 70s, so it’s amazing. Other than that, we just listen to the music our friends in Cambridge make.”
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