Red Hot Lovers- Ain’t Got Time to Waste
Spilling
down from Canada like molten lava, the Red Hot Lovers are a lethal
cocktail of battering punk velocity, strutting cock rock, and head slamming
flash metal. They are way too fast for love, and they are so merciless in
their attack that I swear, with just the slightest bit of rapid
heartbeat-inducing chemicals in your system, they could easily make you kill
somebody, or drive off a cliff, or maybe just punch out a plate glass window or
two. “I don’t care if we fuck or fight tonight” they chant on the song of
the same name, and that is just about as perfect a description of their sound as
you can get. Musical comparisons come quick and easy- Zeke, Crash and
Burn, the Dwarves, Motorhead- but that hardly accounts for the
meaty Judas Priest riffs, or Danny Danger’s wildly venomous vocals
or the casual sociopathic brilliance of songs like “Ass, Ass, or Ass” and “High
After Death”. I remember years and years ago reading an interview with LA metal
band Armored Saint*, and when asked about
their devotion to heavy metal, one amped up Saint started ranting, “I love metal
so fuckin’ much, I wish I could just inject it straight into my veins, like
heroin.” That kind of unhinged enthusiasm is just as evident with the Red Hot
Lovers ( I think you actually can inject rock and roll into your veins- I’m
pretty sure that’s what killed Cranford Nix), and on “Ain’t Got Time to Waste”,
they sound like they’re one 6 week tour away from overdosing on the stuff. Punk
n’ roll bands rarely live up to their own skull and crossbones hype, but the RH
Lovers really are gonna hand you your ass with this record. Feral, evil, and
punk as fuck, this is as ferocious as rock and roll gets without having to call
in the riot squad. *It might have been Nasty Savage or Hallow’s Eve, too- some metal band with eyeliner and leather chestplates, at any rate.