MODEY LEMON s/t (A-F Records CD) I think that over the next year these gonna be a lot of debate over two piece bands. I can see it putting band's like Pittsburgh's Modey Lemon under scrutiny. Are they "for real" or is it a parlour trick. Don't forget that every time something get's hot, swindling companies flood the market with so many counterfeits and also-rans that even those who have learned to swim through the bullshit feel like they're starting to drown. Having a sound based out of the wreckless blues framework, it would be easy to spout off about vocal inflections and chord changes but there is it's own odd look at things going on here. Heavy bonged out thudding and unearthly Moogs abounds make it's own mess underneath monstrous Telecaster detonation and words delivered in a chicken scratched preachification.
The MODEY LEMON don't sound like alt-rockers who caught a story on MTV2 and borrowed a Robert Cray record from their uncle because "The blues ARE IT and vinyl is cool" (but wait those bands are coming.) They do sound like the know how to get the blood stains off of carpets, car seats and cotton fabric cuz they've dealt with it plenty of times before. How the fuck they end up on Hot Topic's "Fuck the System" favorites ANTI-FLAG's label???? (the MODEY LEMON)
KO and the KNOCKOUTS s/t (Sympathy CD) Finally...Ko get's a record out. For those who don't reside in the Detroit area, Ko is the Vespa riding, bartending, "don't give me no hassle cuz if you do you will pay", personal assistant to the White Stripes sweetheart. Fronting bands like the GTB's (nee Midnight Intruders), a bass playing stint in the Come Ons and lending her voice for back-ups on Bantam Rooster and Dirtbombs records just to name a couple there's been talk for ages of when she would have something of her own to give listening pleasure. Joining her fizzy soda sweet voice with the mod-pop guitar buzz courtesy of Eddie of the Sights and the straight ahead time keeping of Jeff Klein, Ko and the Knockouts bring soul fixin's that give a crunch sunny day pop should have if it's gonna stick with me. The songs sound like the could have been written years ago not to mention yesterday. They aren't out to prove something new, they simply want to have some fun. Though their own songs stand out fine and have their melodies sticking around my head hours later, I really have to say the brisk take on Nolan Strong and the Diablos "If I" sparkles even more brightly. (Sympathy)
THE NECROS "Conquest For Death +" (boot LP) I haven't heard this record in ages. At the time I noticed it was missing the band had already broken up and musically had tarnished their legacy with Funk Metal and cock rock. Do you realize how much knee, elbow and face meat met the grinder called cement as THIS blared in the background? This sounds as vicious and stupid as it did day one giving the latter years shark jumping wounds to heel. I put this on, started, turned the volume as loud as it would go then I busted out my old skateboard and rode it down the cement steps leading to my basement...Stef, my better half, was not too amused.
"Stop it you crazy ass! You gonna kill yourself"
Number one son Lucas is urging me to "Do a trick Dad!" as his little brother Nolan eggs it on shouting "Go! Pa! Go Pa!"
Obviously, with me ignoring her and setting a goofus example for the boys, Stef is steamin' miffed! I take one last clumsy excursion down the steps and...CRASH!!!! KAAHHH-BLANG!!! There's a landing and a turn halfway down the steps. Above it is a ledge with paint cans and jars of nails. They all crash to the floor.
"What's that NOISE?" she asks with a flustered tone.
"It's the NECROS, who along with Negative Approach, created the Midwest version of hardcore that..."
"Not the music!" she interupts "I mean that crashing noise!!"
"Oh, um....Nothing." Good cover up there, huh?
She slams the door shut before I could explain to her that this collection includes not only the "Conquest For Death" LP but the "I.Q. 32" and "Sex Drive" stuff and well...everything else from the early part of their career. I've heard that the people who put this out were threatened with legal action but this is the closest anyone can get to a NECROS anthology. Frontman Barry Hensler now goes under the name Chamberweed, spins dance records in Chicago niteclubs and continues to fight hard and long to keep this stuff out of print. Not really from Detroit and not really from Ann Arbor. They're were from a town outside of Toledo, Ohio. They were kids pissed off and bored..., to me it defines a time and an era. (???)
THE LEGHOUNDS "XOXO" (Alien Snatch 7in EP) A couple of years ago one of these guys called me asking about getting a show booked in Detroit. I had never heard of 'em and was trying to get an idea what they were about about so I asked "What do you sound like?"
"A lot of people tell us 'The Devil Dogs'" He replied.
"Yeah, right!" I thought to myself. Y'know a lot of bands try to emulate that sound but don't pull it off right so they try to masquerade the fact with black wifebeaters, a tube of Brylcreem and pointing to the men's room calling it their "office." They forget the about the choruses swiped from tough doo-wop groups, the dirty street shamblings of the New York Dolls, the melodrama of Phil Spector and the pop hook under the raw-dawg guitar roar of the Misfits (Not a reference point you usually see mentioned with the Devil Dogs but trust me...it's in there). I blew the call off.
Who'd ever thought a band from Sheboygan, Wisconsin would get it right. The Leghounds do sound like the Devil Dogs but in a "High Praise" way. The sound of any smalltown losers dreaming beyond the nowhere to go and nothing to do cept watch things rust rig-a-more-row, celebrating what they have and what they want. They've gone past sneaking up the stairs loaded and way past curfew hopin' they don't wake the folks up. More like sneaking up the stairs to not wake the parents of the girl who's bringing them in to stay the night. (The Leghounds both this and the Teenage Rejects are on the ALIEN SNATCH label)
