FRED and ETHEL PRESS and QUOTES

FRED and ETHEL

REVIEW

BY THE LAKE

GREEN MAN

DIRTY LINEN

Milwaukee's Shepherd Express  

FRED AND ETHEL Can You See the Future? 

No, the Mertzes don't have unreleased material. Fred and Ethel is the pseudonym for the local folk-rock duo of Tom Janezic and Jude Kinnear. Recording acoustically for some time and contributing to numerous folk/benefit compilations, the pair is proud to share their latest album with a full band. The producer of the album maintains the majority of rhythm, fill and bass guitar on the album along with Randy Mueller on drums, while Fred and Ethel-excuse me, Tom and Jude-focus on a most nostalgic sort of vocal harmonization.

Although titled Can You See the Future?, the album concentrates more on a past generation, where similar mystic phrases were pondered in bare feet and passed around a smoky huddle on a California beachfront. The title track does, however, hold more resonance as a concerned question, drawing upon aged lessons in peace and political activism and pleading, for us to "wake up and realize where we're heading."

Musical style has a definite link to the 1960s fusion of folk and psychedelia, incorporating the sounds of all the notorious pop vocal groups of the time. Take the harmony of a congenial twosome like Sonny and Cher, the sun-shiny instrumentation of the Mamas and the Papas or the Lovin' Spoonful, the darkness and peculiarity of the Airplane, a bit of Monkees folly, and you're close to knowing Fred and, Ethel. What distinguishes the group from comparison is their own infusion of rockabilly twang and hard-rocking rhythm with the homey heritage of Americana. 

Transcendent tracks are "Rifles" with its infectious chorus and sing-along accessibility (a constant for most of the group's songs) and the live-show-favorite "In Cement." -Graham Fons

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Online: 

Fred and Ethel by the Lake 

The band Fred and Ethel, made up of Fred (Tom Janezic) on guitar and Ethel (Jude Kinnear) on vocals and percussion, plays It's a Beautiful Day Cafe 7:30 Friday in Pewaukee.Twice nominated for a Wisconsin Area Music Industry folk award, Fred and Ethel has an impressive range of music styles and songwriters in its repertoire, from old rockers such as Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young and the Rolling Stones to grunge innovators Nirvana and angry young women such as Alanis Morissette. The pair mix up the covers with originals in a loosey-goosey, energetic performance method that often doesn't involve a set playlist. Instead, as their Web site (www.fred-and-ethel.com) says, the two like to feed "off each other or the audience." - Mary-Liz Shaw

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Green Man Review  

The online music review publication, Green Man Review gave a listen to One Ball Of Clay and had this to say..."Fred & Ethel's Babies is a quirky, up-tempo song with some piercing electric guitar to complement its relentless, almost mechanical beat."

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Dirty Linen Magazine

In the (October/November 2002) issue of Dirty Linen, a magazine dedicated to Folk & World Music, Colleen Moore's column "Unpacking The Panoply" (an overview of compilation cds,) says this: "...I suppose a dose of musical naiveté never hurt anyone. That said, this collection is better than most.  Sure it has a few ingénue vocals, but it also has Fred & Ethel's alt-folk  Babies..."  

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QUOTES

"Folk meets psychedelic meets funky meets rock... original songs, great harmonies...Tom and Jude belt it out."  

-RJ Mueller 

"Honest Music...." 

-Bill Camplin

"Take the harmony of a congenial twosome like Sonny and Cher, the darkness and peculiarity of the Airplane, a bit of Monkees folly, and you're close to knowing Fred and Ethel." 

-Graham Fons

"Fred and Ethel are energetic and lively. They are not some quiet little harmonically inclined couple... they are an in-your-face acoustic rock duo that sounds like a band ." 

- R Outlaw