It is rare for us to be working with a band that has no qualms with talking so much about themselves. Which is great. This is as it should be in the rock & roll universe, where, incidentally, “nervous energy” and “swagger” aren’t neccesarily contradictory concepts. There are a few things you should know about these Brooklyners before you become acquainted with their twisted but fairly accurate take on things (see below). Oneida are a rock & roll band, and this here STEEL ROD EP is a prelude to their COME ON EVERYBODY LET’S ROCK full-length coming out on Jagjaguwar in November. Yes, they’ll be touring the country and causing general havoc all over the place. (Call Smokey now and lodge a complaint ahead of time if you must… just know that it won’t help.) Their mission on our behalf? It’s arduous: to trump the “wheezy” sounds of white male depression (that we accidentally specialize in) with their highly-evolved aural call to arms. According to Oneida:Oneida — called a whole lot of names — “the organic Kraftwerk”, “bastard prodigal sons of Afrika Bambaataa,” “Brooklyn’s electro nightmares unleashed” …and it’s all true. Claims of jazz refuted here. Oneida is all rock, all beat, all the time. This record is our nametag.Break your door, steal the shutters, dear landlord: there’s a price on your head and Oneida’s new STEEL ROD EP is embedded six inches into the back of your skull. All you old men, handing out religious brochures and telling the youth that they’ve lost to the devil, take a look into your own asshole. We think you just might find our new CD, the god you’ve lost and a nice little piece of pipe. Give or take five screaming cuts about new identities, new visions and civil war — Oneida’s Steel Rod lays down another testament to bein’ free like we want it to be. Remember Watson and Crick? Well, we think that Nobel Prize needs to be recalled and delivered to the real innovators of genetics: us. Ever wonder what an “XXY” baby looks like? Listen up. I think you’ll hear its fragile egg shell mind crying out on track one.Some say our “Steel Rod” is discriminate. Not so — we smash it all up — but ask questions later. The board rooms are still talking about the event described above. Suits and casual Friday types keep Oneida in the minutes these days. This Steel Rod we keep talking about — look at it as our scale of justice. Eyes wide open, next stop “Tennessee.” The Union presence is keeping the good people down, disguised as police. But we’re not heartless. We shed a tear on this track… for the dead men in blue, piled up in our wake. Climb onto our “Hell Train” headed for the promised land. Paranoia, beer, and trucker’s speed fueling the next binge on the devil’s consciousness. We think it’s all damn sinister. That there’s an end coming. It’ll get your ass. Listen up. It’s knocking on your door. It won’t stop here.