“A new beginning, a new big bang.
Burn all of your clothes, and add their name to revelations, a new chapter in the book.
Naughty, nasty, Adult Rodeo.”
— from a poem by Jad Fair on the Adult Rodeo Web site. Absurd as it may seem without indulging in the type of sustained and disjointed thought process required to access and assimilate the music of Austin newcomers Adult Rodeo, there is common ground between the musical visions of Townes Van Zandt and Ween. Or at least there is now. On a recent Thursday night that was cooler and moister than any Austin has known in a few months, Adult Rodeo, a band that’s relatively new to town, played an opening slot at Stubb’s on a bill that included headliner and songwriter-savant Daniel Johnston, as well as Pong, the unruly union of Austin post-punkers past and present Ed Hall, Moist Fist, and Pocket FishRmen. The contradictions inherent to these bill-mates — lone tragic figure vs. clowning collective; purity vs. artifice — provided the perfect platform for Adult Rodeo to bare their wares for a local audience that’s all too oblivious to their existence.
Their live set was a collision of styles so cunning and coherent that the fair-sized audience seemed as stunned as they were impressed. Bassist/vocalist Stephanie Mankins laid down bass lines that were alternatingly jarring and sinewy, singing with all the suppressed falsetto power of a distaff J. Mascis, while co-founder guitarist/vocalist Rob Erickson provided lean, rough-edged guitar fills and vocals as bombastic and jocular as Mankin’s were delicate. During the band’s 40-minute set, they plowed their way through a wealth of off-kilter rock tunes, jangly pop deviations, dub-heavy reggae, and country-flavored psychedelia, all without ever losing their aesthetic train of thought.
“We touch on a lot of different things at different times,” says Mankins. “It really depends who we’re playing with. We can transform pretty quickly.”
For the audience this night, the exceedingly pleasant surprise at the ability and appeal of this unknown local band was comparable only to the fact that sitting stage left on keyboards was the incomparable and inimitable Kramer, formerly of Shockabilly and Bongwater fame, currently of Shimmy-Disc Records; he used to own and operate the label, but it was recently purchased by the Knit Media Group, aligning it idealistically and financially with the Knitting Factory label and making Kramer Shimmy-Disc’s sole A&R man. For the underground sophisticates in attendance, it was a presence akin to John Zorn sitting in with a local jazz combo.
This past August, Adult Rodeo released their debut, The Kissyface, on Shimmy-Disc — no small accomplishment considering the exclusive and traditionally Kramer-centric catalog the label has established, which includes underground icons such as Johnston, King Missile, Jad Fair, and Dog Bowl. Add in the fact that the album was accepted, lauded, and released in the same form as it was sent in as a demo, and it’s nothing short of a coup. Not bad for a band that can’t seem to get a show in their own town; even though they’ve been in Austin for a year, Adult Rodeo has played live locally only a handful of times. Using their debut CD as a demo, they’ve met with some resistance.
“No one likes us,” says Mankins. “We’re complete rejects.”
“Wanna hear some good Austin stories about trying to get gigs?” asks Erickson.
“We’ve gotten phone calls saying, ‘There’s no way we would ever book you’ — just on the basis of the CD,” laughs Mankins. “We can’t name names … ”
“Yes we can,” injects Erickson. “There’s this lady named Kimmy at Ego’s, who we gave a CD because she said she was interested in listening to it for happy hour sets. She called us back that very day and said, ‘Why don’t you come back and pick up your CD, because [in unison with Mankins], ‘There’s no way in my wildest dreams that I would ever book your band in my bar!'”
Then again, Ego’s, like most venues in town, probably wouldn’t have booked Bongwater, either.
The sound of The Kissyface, for all its heady eclecticism and avant-rock ingredients, is one of tension and dissonance — an opposition of styles, ideas, and noises that pull at each other until what is hidden in the cracks between them is let out into the light. The forces in question — Mankins and Erickson — have built a musical vocabulary grounded in the rapport they established initially by playing open mike nights during their brief post-college stint in New York City. Since then, the pair have managed to surrounded themselves with a floating lineup of players who give the music life in whatever manner the situation calls for. Last Thursday’s show at Stubb’s begged for a big rock show, so the required punch was provided by Kramer, drummer Karl Lundin (also of Viper Horse), and guitarist Toby Scroggins (Mittens, Dismukes), who recently joined the lineup on a more permanent basis.
Also considered a core member of Adult Rodeo, Erickson’s sister Kristin plays keyboards and powerbook on The Kissyface, while Jennifer, Mankins’ sister, plays drums on the group’s next album, Texxxas, which is done and set for release in March on Shimmy-Disc. Asked about the solid but thus far low-profile relationship they’ve established with such a respectable label in such a short time, Rob and Stephanie are duly appreciative.
“We’ve been interested in a lot of what Kramer does over the years,” explains Erickson. “It’s an odd, coherent style. There’s a certain weight to the sound. It’s a vocal quality and a guitar tone, and it’s really coherent to a lot of Shimmy-Disc records. Everyone at Shimmy-Disc and anyone we’ve talked to says it makes sense that The Kissyface is a Shimmy-Disc record.”
Mankins agrees, though not always. They argue a little. She’s from Texarkana (“the Texas side, my God!”), and he’s from South Florida. She’s 26, he’s 24, and they’ve been together since ’95, playing music and “sleeping together from day one,” according to Mankins. (“Day 2, actually,” corrects Erickson.) They moved to Austin last October to be closer to Mankins’ family. She books birding tours until she starts school in the spring, he’s a substitute teacher for AISD. The banter between them mirrors the dissonant interplay they enjoy as musical foils; arguments tend to turn into deeper and harder-fought alliances rather than agreements to disagree. They are calm and intellectual. They are also vehement in stating their points of view. Charming, engaging, and only slightly vulgar, the common wit and chemistry between them is a major part of their music’s appeal.
Both Mankins and Erickson are writers — she of poetry, he of plays, many of which were produced during his time in college. Rather than follow the writerly impulse of creating order out of chaos, the couple sustains chaos in a way that’s musically coherent and intellectually challenging. Sure, there’s order: Lots of their songs follow the beloved 1-4-5 chord progression, and there are often tangible elements of country and pop music in the songs. It’s in the juxtaposition of the elements and the impression of disorder that Adult Rodeo finds its sound and its personality.
“Through the Door,” the first song on The Kissyface, is a good example. Starting with shrieking guitar distortion, a bouncy melody played on an acoustic guitar underlines and subdues the screech at the same time. Deep-toned feedback brings the intensity back up, and then comes Mankins’ whispery falsetto, which seem barely above a murmur. The song goes on in this way, pitting soft vocals against loud blasts of noise with an extremely understated background. “Bad Morning,” featuring Erickson’s deep, somewhat mocking vocals, also stands out, while “Empty Space,” a tune sung by Mankins, affirms Townes Van Zandt’s influence on the duo. For Adult Rodeo, the exclusion of anything from their sound is all but unheard of, making for a cohesive and concerted effort at something truly unique.
At the end of this month, on the heels of (for them) a spate of local appearances, including a spot on KVRX’s Local Live show, Mankins and Erickson embark on a tour of Europe with Kramer’s Milksop Holly and Jad Fair, for whom they’ve played as a backup band on a previous tour. It’ll be just the two of them, with powerbooks and a drum machine jammed into backpacks. Perhaps after this tour, people in Austin will have heard of Adult Rodeo. Once their reputation has become international, they should be able to get a gig in their hometown. 
This article appears in October 8 • 1999.