The toy trucks
Photo Credit: George Hancock
“Memphis combo The Toy Trucks... Led by ex-Reigning Sound member Jeremy Scott, the group — which also includes guitarist Dylan Cranmer, bassist Ryno Hanson and drummer Steve Barnat — have crafted a killer full-length debut for the local Black and Wyatt label that bears the influence of everything from Del Shannon to the Rascals, from garage to punk to power pop and beyond.”
The Toy Trucks are collectively 180+ years old and are fueled by equal parts cheap beer, cheap thrills and Cheap Trick. Over the band’s multi-year existence, songwriter/leader Jeremy Scott (ex-Reigning Sound) has developed an “anything but another crappy love song” ethos which has resulted in the songs on the band’s first full-length, Rockets Bells and Poetry. (“We stole the title from Mama Cass Elliott,” Scott explains.) Over the course of said album, the band (Scott, guitarist Dylan Cranmer, bassist Ryno Hanson and drummer Steve Barnat) prove conversant with, among other things, Rascals-like blue-eyed grooves (Don’t Be So Easy), grisly true crime balladry (57 Bayview), updated Del Shannonesque psychodrama (Hot Tears) and honest flat out rock and roll (I’m on the Dish But I Ain’t No Rag). As both a stand-alone statement and a teaser for the band’s revved up live show, Rockets Bells and Poetry should satisfy anyone’s rock/garage/power-pop itch quite nicely.
On April 26, 2021 The Toy Trucks released a three song EP - You and Your Cistern - (digital only) that was recorded in January 2020 at High/Low Recording, Memphis TN. The recordings were engineered by Toby Vest and Pete Matthews and mastered by Jim Diamond. The band lineup changed with Dustin Reynolds playing drums/percussions.
reviews
The Toy Trucks, who feature an ex-member of Reigning Sound in Jeremy Scott as their songwriter/ leader, are a finely tuned but not too fussed over full-band experience.
With opener “I’m on the Dish But I Ain’t No Rag” they tear into a fast-paced punky rocker with an irresistible riff, but from there little time is wasted in varying the program. Black and Wyatt mention The Rascals in relation to “Don’t Be So Easy,” but to my ear the tune is as power-pop-infused as it is blue-eyed soul inclined, and that’s cool. And if not for its dark subject matter, “57 Bayview” could be mistaken for ’80s Hoboken guitar pop.
But the heart of The Toy Trucks’ thing, perhaps best displayed in the brief “CDB” leading into the revved-up catchiness of “Hot Tears,” is disheveled classicism, and it’s the kind of sound that might suggest Black and Wyatt are spelunking the same stylistic caves as their fellow Memphians at Goner Records (as co-owned and operated by Eric Oblivian). However, the sheer sensitivity of The Toy Trucks’ “Show You Love” complicates this comparison somewhat. -The Vinyl District | READ
Jeremy Scott is familiar to any fan of Memphis music, having played in the original Reigning Sound and groups backing Harlan T. Bobo and Dan Montgomery.
But though his ensemble playing reveals a fine sense of playing at the service of the song, it's barely offered a glimpse of his songwriting talents. For a time, he led the Wallendas, which also included longtime guitar ace Jim Duckworth, but that was ancient history in pop terms, and never resulted in a full length release.
Nonetheless, as Scott's Sunday night DJ slot on WEVL makes clear, he is steeped in the history of pop and rock, old and new, and something was bound to come of it. Now, with his band The Toy Trucks making their debut, rockets bells and poetry (Black & Wyatt), we can finally hear all that cumulative experience blossom into some fine material. - Memphis flyer | READ
This band features guitarist and singer Jeremy Scott, formerly of Greg Cartwright’s celebrated Reigning Sound. The Toy Trucks come from a similar place musically, rocking hard-hard-hard. “I’m on the Dish But I Ain’t no Rag” is an uncompromising rocker that demonstrates yet again what can be done with three chords and a distortion pedal. But on cuts like “Don’t Be So Easy,” the band conjures the spirit of ’70s Memphis bands like the Scruffs and (a just a little bit of) Big Star. And when they tone it down for acoustic tunes like the softly shimmering “Bayview,” it still works. - Musoscribe | READ
