44 | Rolling Stone | September 2019
2020 JEEP GLADIATOR
Yes, the Gladiator looks
like a Wrangler with a
pickup bed bolted on the
back — but underneath
the sheet metal, there are
some differences. A new
rear suspension helps the
Gladiator ride far smoother
than Wranglers of old,
which rattled change out of
pockets even on the flattest
suburban cul-de-sacs. The
pickup’s off-road cred is
just as strong as Wrangler’s,
though its added length,
about two and a half
feet beyond the longest
Wrangler, means the bed
might scrape the ground
coming off espe cially steep
inclines. Fear not: Jeep
installed protection under
the rear bumper.PHOTOGRAPH BY Dan PrakopcykJE
EPESS CARSON, CAMERON DUDDY, and Mark Wystrach, a.k.a.
Midland, are arguing about L.A. traffic. “You should take La
Brea over to Sunset,” Duddy, the band’s bassist, says from the
back seat of a fire-engine-red Jeep Gladiator Rubicon.
“No, not La Brea,” says lead singer Wystrach, who’s driving.
“We want La Cienega — or, no, Crescent Heights.”
All three guys currently call Austin home, but they used to live in L.A. So the
drive up into the Hollywood Hills is also a trip down memory lane as they point
out where friends lived, parties raged, and Wystrach nearly died in a motor cycle
accident. The Gladiator’s removable roof panels and doors are off — con sider it
a convertible that also happens to have a five-foot steel bed and a towing capaci-
ty of 7,000 pounds. “This truck would be pretty badass in Texas,” Wystrach says.A stop for lunch at the Laurel Canyon Country Store leads to talk of the band’s
new album, Let It Roll, which is informed by their growing pains over the past
several years. The song “Playboys,” for instance, touches on their early days tour-
ing: “Out here you get used to losing/Your friends, your lovers, and your mind.”
“It’s an autobiographical song about driving around in a pickup with our equip-
ment in the bed — not even a tarp over it,” Carson says. “The road is a beast that
gets its claws in you and wants to keep you out there. It can be a seedy, dark exis-
tence.” Today, though, the trio are all family men, and life on the road looks dif-
ferent. Carson is even selling some old pickup trucks to help pay for a tour bus,
so his wife and kids can ride with him. “The biggest bummer would be that the
three of us wouldn’t be on the same bus,” he says to his bandmates — then pauses.
“Well, maybe I could still ride with you guys.” KY HENDERSONThe Go-Anywhere Pickup
J
RSROADTEST
Three of music’s hottest
names introduce us to three
of the year’s coolest new
rides. PLUS Updates on the
latest in eco-friendly tech ,
the return of the VW Bus,
and the race to build an
all-electric pickup truckMIDLANDWystrach,
Carson,
and Duddy
(from left)