Although this is being billed as the boys debut LP I’m fairly certain that ‘Come and Get It’ was released under that same banner a couple ears ago. Indeed the track listing is very similar, including such already well-loved tunes as ‘Another Day In The Life’ and ‘Party Starts Now’. What we also get here though is some very high production values- the whole thing is so polished you can probably see yourself in it.The Toilet Boys aren’t so much a part of the down-n-dirty sleaze revival headed by The Backyard Babies/Buckcherry et al, but, even more unfashionable, real old bubblegum Glam. Think hairspray,spandex, pyro and song titles like ‘Saturday Night’, which also make up most of the lyrics and cover little deeper than drinkin’, rockin’ and fucking. The over-production, keyboard sparkles, love of 80’ssleaze, short-but-sweet songs and cheekily flirtaous lyrics all remind me of Rachel Stamps debut album.The Toilet Boys however are even less afraid to wear their taste defying influences on their rhinestonedsleeves, and where Stamp tone things down and manage to capture the teeny-metaller market, Miss Guy and co. inject touches of Poison, KISS and guitar solos. And all without a trace of irony in the 21stcentury – full marks.
/Alison.
Category: Reviews – Blast From The Past!
Torpedohead “Let’s Go Fo A Ride” (2010)
5 brand new songs produced by Siggi Bemm (KREATOR, LACUNA COIL…) by Germany’s most promising band TORPEDOHEAD. We already enjoyed their first EP “Lovesick Avenue” (2009) a lot here at Veglam so it’s more than nice to see that the band didn’t waste their time and decided to come back and offer us some of the finest punky hard rock’n’roll.
TORPEDOHEAD is clearly heading towards a WILDHEARTS direction on these songs, especially on “Cadillac Beach” (and its catchy RAMONES chorus) and “Brave New World” (that also reminds me a bit of BACKYARD BABIES.) They also kept their love for American rock (“Black Rain”, a killer hit song!) and glammy punk’n’roll (“Moonshine Highway”) intact and put an end to this EP with “Paintrain”, a brilliant melancholic song in a pure D.A.D. vein! TORPEDOHEAD can write good melodies using great rock’n’roll guitar riffs and that’s all we need, don’t we?
I’m telling you, this is the best German band since The REVOLVERS!/Laurent C.
The Dogs D’Amour “The State We’re In”
Finally gaining a release 10 years after it was first recorded this infamous, lost first album is everything you could want from a Dogs D’Amour album. The fact the 3rd generation tapes this was taken from sound like they’ve their fair share of whisky spilt on them in their years in a Wolverhampton basement only enhances the record. While always something of a designer mess you really can believe this is the Dogs in a true state, rough, raw and authentic the cigarettes and sincerity fair drip from Tyla voice. ‘State We’re In’ is all clattering punk guitars, taking after the Pistols on ‘Dole Hero’ or tourmate Johnny Thunders on ‘Wired and Awake’, and classic Glam sparkle on the T-Rex-tasy of ‘Don’t Ask Me To Say I Love You’ or ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’, which is Hanoi Rocks in full blues-explosion mode. The original ‘Heroine’ is a hundred times for heart-breaking than is scrubbed-up younger sisters there after, while the scrapbook like sleeve and 2 CD-ROM videos remind of some heartbreaking haircuts and er, naked Tyla! Almost certainly worth the wait.
/Alison
American Heartbreak “You Will Not Be Getting Paid $” (2004)
If you still don’t have a copy of ‘Postcards From Hell’, you’re just missing one of the best rock’n’roll album released by an American band these last years. As we speak, AMERICAN HEARTBREAK are almost ready to offer us their brand new super rock album but, since every fan of the band is dying with impatience, they decided to put out this CD which consists of 5 live songs recorded in France during their last tour, 5 acoustic tracks and a 2003 remix of their debut EP ‘What You Deserve’. The live songs manage to catch the raw side of the band for those who haven’t seen them on a stage yet while the acoustic part -including covers of “Come on, Come On” (CHEAP TRICK) and “Outfit” (STARZ)- shows us a new, quieter, softer side which sometimes reminds me of the TESLA acoustic CD. The addition of the ‘What You Deserve’ EP was a good idea since most fans don’t even know about it. This CD should be released in Europe by People Like You Records so get your hands on it when you see it and, if you don’t know the band yet, this is a very good way to get introduced to them.
/Laurent C.
LTNO “Sea, Sex & Burn” (2003)
Limited Teenage Noise Orgasm is back with this second album, the first one (“Global Cut”) was released in 1999. This new CD definitely has an electro influence but still keeps rock roots, it could be described as a mix of electroclash and glam (especially because of the vocals and catchy choruses.) The first song (“Inflatable Idol”) is a powerful one with some heavy guitar riff reminding me of MINISTRY, then two other hits follow: the killer “Sea, Sex & Burn” that you’ll sing to yourself night and day and the sexy “Number Five”. There’s no bad songs on here, most are interesting and innovative and the last ones are in a darker (“Lucifer Rising” and its MANSONish vocals) and more experimental vein. You’ll also find an awesome cover of Sabrina’s “Boys, Boys, Boys” as a summer bonus track as well as two videos. I’ve been playing this CD a lot and I’ve come to the conclusion that you really need this.
/Laurent C.
Murderdolls “Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls”
As if they haven’t been hyped up enough over the past couple months here I come to add my two cents worth to the fuss getting kicked up over the Murderdolls. Its kinda difficult to review this cos by now all the lazy ‘Will the Slipknot fans like it?’ angles have been snapped up and done to death by every hack on Roadrunner’s payroll. All the ‘new direction’ and ‘commercial liability’speculation is a bit like trying to read the deep, hidden meaning of poncey French sub-titled cinema into what is basically the aural equivalent of a low-budget ‘tits-lesbian zombies-tomato ketchup’ style B-movie. All you really need to know is that this is a spot on piece of throwaway genius. The utterly infectious chorus to ‘Grave Robbing USA’ while you love it now will almost certainly drive you insane in 6 months and this definitely sound dated in 10years time, hell, it even sounds dated now, with 80’s Motley influences a go-go worn unashamedly on its sparkly spandex sleeve. This is a band who with calls for ‘geetar’, accompanied by the customary widdly solo are desperately unfashionable, they’re not out to make a piece of art or a chart-topping product, just have a great party on record in the time honoured tradition of Poison, with name-drops to Psycho and The Exorcist and lyrics about necrophilia and murder this ain’t high-brow angst, and thanking fucking Christ – this is a band who aren’t trying to be ‘cool’! If we’re honest this wouldn’t have caught a sniff of hype or even interest among the music press were it not for the Slipknot connection but so fucking what – stop analysing and just enjoy this brilliant flash in the pan before we’re all bored of it and have moved on anyway. Pour yourself and cliched Jack and Coke and just *try* to not headbang, horns aloft, to the stomping likes of ‘Die My Bride’, ‘197666’ and the Dee Snider saluting ‘Twist My Sister’.
/Alison.
Queen Adreena “Drink Me” (2003)
Blindingly bizarre performance art live that thrives on spontaneity, crowd-band dynamics and free form improvisation its is difficult to envisage Queen Adreena’s gothic-white noise translating to the infinitely more rigid and 2D language of record without at least a few meanings being lost and embarrassing misunderstandings. This long awaited second CD opus however goes well beyond 2000’s debut ‘Taxidermy’ in attempting to grasp the vision of beauty and violence QA evoke live and shove the blighter onto a 4-inch disc. While ‘Taxidermy’ possessed a vulnerable, introspective beauty, full of delicate piano melodies and classical vocals ‘drink me’ distinctly heads more for the latter element of the bands dynamic, a brash, raw noisy record which is far more representative of where QA are at today. Despite its rare and surprisingly catchy, almost tune-like quality opener ‘Pretty Like Drugs’ sets the mood fairly aptly, portraying one grown woman in the midst of the most horrific child’s tantrum. Almost embarrassingly personal as they say ‘Kitty Collar Tight’ and ‘Siamese Almeida’ don’t let you off one bit, keeping up the same pounding, screeching, kicking and scratching pace. When things slow down forth track in on ‘Razorblade Sky’ they are by no means calmer, sounding just as abrasive as the title would suggest. There are rare reprises to the twisted lullabies of ‘Taxidermy’ on ‘Sleeping Pill’ and ‘My Silent Undoing’ but these only proceed slabs of pure, tuneless white noise, almost as wholly unlistenable as Katie and Crispin’s Daisy Chainsaw days on ‘Hotel Aftershow’. An alternately beautiful and horrific album which is perhaps the closest you can come to bottling and marketing one girls rage, ultimately however, its still totally incomparable to the visceral energy of experiencing them in the flesh.
/Alison
Sugar Shock “First Date” EP (2004)
First, let me tell you that the cover of this promo CD from Sweden is just great ! I mean, it’s nice, original,quite funny and romantic at the same time. This little boy standing up could symbolize every broken-hearted outcast glam/punk rocker, you know who you are! 🙂 In fact, it perfectly illustrates the lyrics and this atmosphere full of broken teenage dreams and passionate rebellion. It makes me feel like I’m 15 again ! The first song called “Promqueen Daydream” is a poppy glam punk jewel dipped in bubblegum that makes every part of my body move.”Baby Doll” starts like “Cry Tough” (POISON) because of the drums intro but is indeed closer to HANOI ROCKS. Then, “Goodnight Kisses”proves that glam is punk, it sounds like a glitterversion of The RAMONES. The last song (“First Date”) is also a very good glitter punk pop anthem. SUGAR SHOCK do what they want and are damn good at it. Some will complain about the sound but I won’t, damn& blast it ! This is a good punk sound to me, we don’t need powerful metal guitars and FM sounds here and there’s a lot of charm in the punk side of the band. I’m sure that punks will appreciate… So now, I urge you to come and walk with me on GlitterGlue Avenue and greet SUGAR SHOCK with cheers ! Laurent C.
Veglam 