RN'R MONKEY & THE ROBOTS
Detroit Trauma
Drastic Plastic ________________________________________________________
Craig Campbell
was the singer for Denver punk band Cold Crank. I dunno
who Cold Crank was, really, but according to the handy, informative
leaflet Drastic Plastic has provided for me, the Crank-ers had a nice
career going for themselves, until it all went to hell, as these things
do. Campbell packed all his junk into several green garbage bags and made
a big break to Seattle, where he ran into the drummer from the Fluid, who
was sitting in a bar, waiting for the grunge revival to kick in. So,
Campbell recorded some songs with him. Lo-fi, junk-culture fuzzpop stuff.
Then, he split for Detroit, where he ran into some other dudes, real
serious garage-punk guys. They liked him, so he recorded some more songs
there. In “Cancer Alley”, no less, a particularly dangerous section of an
already ridiculously dangerous town. This, then, is a wide-reaching
collection of the Seattle-Detroit sessions, spanning 7 year’s worth of
home-grown, 4-track budget rock. Some of the songs are filled with
screaming Sonics guitars and punchy pop-choruses, some of ‘em are
Blue
Cheer style heavy-devy retropunk, and some of them are almost tweedy
Paisley pop. The latter I could do without, but the other stuff has some
rock power to it, no doubt. Collectively, "Detroit Trauma" is exactly like what you’d
expect a band called Rock N’ Roll Monkey and the Robots to sound like –
vintage, tinny, clunky, goofy, and a little annoying, but sorta cool
anyway. Bonus points for the accidental pigeon cooing, and for “James Dean
was a Jerk”, because it’s true.
Craig Campbell
was the singer for Denver punk band Cold Crank. I dunno
who Cold Crank was, really, but according to the handy, informative
leaflet Drastic Plastic has provided for me, the Crank-ers had a nice
career going for themselves, until it all went to hell, as these things
do. Campbell packed all his junk into several green garbage bags and made
a big break to Seattle, where he ran into the drummer from the Fluid, who
was sitting in a bar, waiting for the grunge revival to kick in. So,
Campbell recorded some songs with him. Lo-fi, junk-culture fuzzpop stuff.
Then, he split for Detroit, where he ran into some other dudes, real
serious garage-punk guys. They liked him, so he recorded some more songs
there. In “Cancer Alley”, no less, a particularly dangerous section of an
already ridiculously dangerous town. This, then, is a wide-reaching
collection of the Seattle-Detroit sessions, spanning 7 year’s worth of
home-grown, 4-track budget rock. Some of the songs are filled with
screaming Sonics guitars and punchy pop-choruses, some of ‘em are
Blue
Cheer style heavy-devy retropunk, and some of them are almost tweedy
Paisley pop. The latter I could do without, but the other stuff has some
rock power to it, no doubt. Collectively, "Detroit Trauma" is exactly like what you’d
expect a band called Rock N’ Roll Monkey and the Robots to sound like –
vintage, tinny, clunky, goofy, and a little annoying, but sorta cool
anyway. Bonus points for the accidental pigeon cooing, and for “James Dean
was a Jerk”, because it’s true.