Tacoma’s Painkillers play psychedelia-tinged country that alternates between cute and macabre. I’d wager it happened mostly by accident, but the band has a sound I have absolutely never heard before. Shoegaze country? Druggy-tonk? In any case, the songs in which the Painkillers give their uniquely haunting instrumentation some room to breatheâ€"when flanged-out echo effects blow across the soundscape like tumbleweedâ€"this band is pretty damn compelling. Casey Jarman - Willamette Weekly (Portland, OR

First Night, Tacoma, 2009 - Take The Pain Away -The Painkillers will begin to weave a web of sound that is equal parts psychedelia, honky-tonk and Ed Wood. Seriously, it’s weird in the most unbelievably awesome way. Maybe it’s the Culture-inspired echo-flange fades, or the lengths to which The Painkillers go to make their music creep under your skin, but this is perfect music for strobe-lit, back-room, choking-on-smoke, David Lynch-style flesh mingling. I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me. Paul Schrag - Weekly Volcano (Tacoma, WA