|
 Man,
when this one arrived at Sleaze HQ a couple weeks ago, Mrs.
Sleazegrinder took a look at the tattered, tattooed werewolves on the
back cover and said, “Hey, didn’t you used to dress like these guys?” Baby,
you don’t know the half of it, and believe me, you really wanna keep
it that way.
I wrote in another review recently that if I was ever foolish enuff to start
my own band, it would sound like Guns N’ Roses, crossed with a knife
fight. North Carolina’s own self-proclaimed Kings of Sleaze, the
Crank County Daredevils – the MOTHERFUCKERS- have pretty
much beaten me to it. I mean, you don’t even need any explanation for their
sound beyond that. GNR and bloodshed. Two great tastes that taste
great together.
The really important thing about this record is how it makes ya FEEL
– and it’s true man, rock n roll can actually make you feel something, if
it’s done right. For me, the CCD’s ain’t nothin’ but trouble, because
even a whiff of the chaingun riffs and mad-dog bark of “Bitch Be Cool”,
or the druggy cock n’ roll slink of “Line ‘em Up” or the dive-bombing
arena rock mayhem of “Kings of Sleaze”, and brother, I REMEMBER,
like an Amnesia victim suddenly getting his marbles back, just who the fuck
the Sleazegrinder USED to be, back before I had the horse-sense and
court-orders and marriage certificate to start acting like a citizen. “KIS”
makes me think of drinking whiskey and popping pills and chain smoking and
fucking crazy girls and stealing and fighting and screaming and never, ever
sleeping and smashing stuff to bits, just cuz it feels good to destroy
things. It makes me think of what it was like back when I simply CEASED
TO GIVE A FUCK, and those are dangerous thoughts, indeed.
But that hasn’t stopped me from, well, cranking this fucker every goddamn
day since I got it. You will, too, believe me. And when you hear Scotty P’s
berserk, broken glass n’ gravel proclamation about bein’ “Back in the
Nasty”, as Adam Stevens’ guitar slams it’s venomous sleaze metal
right into yer soft white skull, and Billy Velvet and Mark Hammer
crackle like rolling thunder in the backline, yr gonna want to be right
there with ‘em, balls-deep in the fuckin’ Nasty, man. Listen, I gotta
play it cool – I’m the kinda King of Sleaze that ain’t gonna give up
my throne for rip-ride on a skullcycle I helped build, ya dig, but YOU,
well that’s a different story. You, I think, oughta get yerself a copy of “Kings
of Sleaze” like NOW, and do EXACTLY what it wants ya to
do. Raise hell, freak freely, burn down the shithouse, whatever it takes.
The fact of the matter is, rock n roll is about sex, electricity, and
firepower. Crank County Daredevils have so much of all three on deck
here that they’ve just GOTTA give some of that shit away, man.
Honestly, these cats are UP there- Lanternjack, United
Enemies, Crystal Pistol, just name yr fave Super Rockers,
CCM can go toe-to-toe with ‘em. They are sleazy and evil, and they
really, really rock like fuck. And if I say anymore, I just know I ‘m
gonna end up in jail or rehab or something, so I’m just gonna shut up now
and leave it up to you. Suffice to say, I don’t even MIND sharing the
King of Sleaze title with these maniacs – they actually DESERVE
the distinction.
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