The evening before Matson Jones' latest Midwest tour, the band's drummer, Ross Harada, was tinkering with the $1.99 thrift-store Casio that, until recently, had become a signature part of the band's coolest songs. He was a little anxious; if he couldn't fix it, the band would have to retire (or at least rework) a couple of tunes. Evidently, that Casio (perhaps the same model Trio used for "Da, Da, Da"?) is both crucial and yet irrelevant for a punk band with two furious, cello-sawing singers, Martina Grbac and Anna Mascorella, who growl their love, blood and anger through a Green Bullet harmonica microphone. It's no wonder Sympathy for the Record Industry, the White Stripes' first label, re-released Matson Jones' debut CD this month. It's also no wonder that fans travel the plains for hours to catch a glimmer of that lush, lush harshness. And if Harada got that tiny keyboard working, the last little touches on the most genre-shattering band Fort Collins, Colorado, ever produced will be in place.
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