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Demo Reviews May, 2004 |
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Sleazegrinder is the king of rock n' roll. |
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| Wanna see more of Vantasia? I don't blame ya. Here's where to go: | |
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The Eruptors
- 6 song demo London-based
sleaze rockers the Eruptors thrash their way through a half dozen
boisterous tracks here. Opener “Whoregazm” is a stoner-ish instro
with rollicking drug-rock riffs, which is kinda weird, since they are
neither an instrumental, nor a stoner rock band, but what the hell, it’s
groovy. “Seduce and Destroy” is fiery sleaze punk, and “1,000%
Rock, Baby” (also their motto, theme song, and fall-back excuse for
bad behavior), is anthemic, scream-along cock rock. “Achtung, Achtung”,
a hyperdelic instro-mental, is the real blood-boiler of the bunch, a
psyche-fuzz metal freak-out that brings to mind Thee Hypnotics.
Bitchin’. “Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah” is a speedfreak punk n’ roll punch
in the face, fulla venom spitting geetar, kinda |
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like Amsterdam bullies
Panty Boy, and closer “Skate Fast, Die Hard” is a glam-slam
street-rocker that, as the title would imply, sounds like drunk n’ roll
legends, Gang Green. Ok, so mebbe they
need to pick a sound and run with it, but the Eruptors are just
showin’ ya how many different ways they can kick yr ass with rock n’ roll,
dig? Fuckin’ showoffs. Vantasia: You know when a dog grabs your shoe, and you try to take it away, and they just chew on it harder, and go, “Grrrr!”, like that? Sleaze: Yeah. Vantasia: That’s what this sounds like. Like a dog with a shoe. _______________________________________________________________________________________ |
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The Cringe -
Love is Steel  And
thus it arrives, Provvy, R.I.’s most sacred and noble gift to the
world, the Cringe EP. For those out of the Sleaze-iverse
loop, the Cringe are a glamdirge nightmare of desolation boulevard
balladry from 45 minutes South of Boston, and they rock, daddy-o, in the
deepest, darkest, crawl-inside-your-skin way imaginable. With claws dug
deep in Detroit thunder ’69, and Noo-Yawk swagger ’76,
the Cringe sound is a narco-bomb of nerve shredding rock n’ roll,
part punk, part metal, part cold sweat madness. “Love is Steel”
features their head-loosening demo tracks, “Boys and Girls” and “Venomosity”,
now beefed up with stun-gun guitar, so they sound pretty much like a wall
of fists. |
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Then there’s a homicidal, dive-bombing cover
of “I Wanna Be Your Dog”, and the title track, a redneck-riffing
thunderboogie monster fulla acid metal guitars and a truly demented vocal
performance from lead howler Paul Hullabaloo. A devastating slice
of pure intensity, “Love is Steel” is, quite simply, the devil taking rock
and roll back. Don’t miss it. Vantasia: If you don’t turn this CD off, I’m gonna pee my pants! Sleaze: What? Why? Vantasia: Because it’s scary! That guy sounds like Buffalo Bill. Sleaze: Who’s Buffalo Bill, some kinda cartoon? Vantasia: No, he’s the guy that dumps people in pits and eats their skin! Sleaze: Yikes! Vantasia: Yikes is right! Play something else! ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ |
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Spunji - Rock
This! Spunji are two spunky blonde sisters and their side-burned
drummerboy from Mobile, Alabama, who tour the whole damn country, constantly, in a
Trans Am, and a Camaro. That much alone oughta get ‘em a TV
Movie of the
Week someday. Along the way, they spread their message of, uh,
salvation-through-blonde-ambition, I suppose, like pixie-dust, captivating
crowds with teenage-rampage enthusiasm, southern charm, pin-up good looks,
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| a remarkably wholesome approach to rock n’ roll. “Rock This” is the Spunji experience in a box (or on a disc, whatever), and even tho the twin-scream caterwauling of Judi Poison and Mary Vegas on some of the choruses could easily kill a canary or shatter a windshield, they otherwise bang out a buncha catchy, singalong pop n’ rollers here, kinda like a ramshackle Go-Go’s crossed with a sugar-powered Babes in Toyland. Most remarkable o’ the bunch has gotta be “I Hate You”, both for it’s bratty spoken-word intro and drawling punk rock rhythms, and for it’s dramatically morose lyrics - “I hate you cuz your pretty eyes don’t see that I’m gonna disappear”, etc. Matter of fact, all of the lyrics are pseudo-suicidal, which is WEIRD comin’ from these two bouncy young ‘uns, but I guess the road’ll do that to you, man. Anyway, the music is from outer space, completely, which just sorta adds to the aura of the band. Twin sisters from Mobile in a Trans Am really COULDN’T sound normal, could they? I imagine some kinda pied piper thing going on with Spunji, with armies of kids following them around the country, wearing home-made Spunji gear and pledging their love/devotion and whatever else they got to ‘em like some crazy riot grrrl cult. And don’t kid yrself hipster, they’ll probably get to you too, soon. Just keep telling yrself, “it’s only a chick rock band, it’s only a chick rock band…” | |
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Vantasia: Wait, what’s their name? Sleaze: Spunji. Vantasia: Sponge-y? Sleaze: Yeah, Spunji. Vantasia: Sponge-y?! Sleaze: Umm, yeah. Vantasia: Like, in the sink? Sleaze: Judi said it was somebody who stayed home and drank warm beer. Vantasia: Oh. Sponge-y, huh? Sleaze: Yep. Vantasia: Well, at least they’re cute. |
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Rockets to Ruin
- 2 song demo R2R are a buncha seasoned true-believers from
Atlanta who play chugging, anthemic hard rawk, influenced and inspired by the Backyard Babies, the
Cult, Warrior Soul and probably a little peaceflower grunge here n’ there,
as well. Certainly, the ropy riffs and stadium-sized production brings to
mind Soundgarden, early STP, and Grunt Truck, but they’ve also got the
hustle and flash of the cocaine-boogie on ‘em, and even |
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tho it’s kinda
hard to tell with only two tracks, it looks like these Rockets are gonna
be monsters, man. The incessant super-riff that opener “Shadow” rides on
has all the menace of the Lanternjack and all the spit n’ gristle of
ZZ Top, and the headbanging “Waitin’ for You” is big time arena rock, baby,
from the daze when arenas really DID rock. I think you can go download
these fuckers yr damn self on their
website, so do yrself a favor and
hitch a ride on these Rockets while the trip is still free. Vantasia: Whoo-hooo! Sleaze: You like it? Vantasia: it sounds like drugs! Sleaze: What kind? Vantasia: I don’t know…fun drugs! _____________________________________________________________________________ |
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Vanity Ink – 3 song
demo One
of my fave Swedish sleaze rock bands of the past few years was
Weirdorama, a dark, glammy gang of eyeliner outlaws who played
suicidal glitterpunk like 69 Eyes without the phony vampire teeth.
They were bad ass. Weirdorama went the way of all flesh, however,
and a cuppla the cats found themselves in a Joan Jett cover band.
Then, one day, not long ago, somebody said, “Why the fuck are we playing
Joan’s songs, when we can just write our own?” Shazam! Vanity Ink.
VI aren’t nearly as fuck-on-the-floor sleazy as Weirdorama,
but they rock plenty, with anthemic, goth-tinged hard rock that’s kinda
like the Cult with one of the chicks from Heart (the skinny
one, or mebbe either of ‘em, in 1976) up front. Three songs here –
“Burning” is the bloozy epic, “Swept Aside” is the
misery-metal number and “Out Alive” is the rousing, fist-shaking
rock anthem. Good stuff. |
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Vantasia:
I think I saw these guys play at the roller rink once. Sleaze: I don’t think so, Vantasia. Vantasia: I did, my mom used to take me skating all the time. They’d play these guys and you know that song, “She’s got double vision!” Sleaze: Yeah, but I kinda doubt they were playing Vanity Ink at the roller rink when you were a kid. Vantasia: Listen, how often have you gone to the roller rink? Sleaze: Never. Vantasia: So there! Sleaze: I swear to god, I love rock n' roll. |
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Remember, brothers and sisters, wherever you are, there’s a porn star
shining down on you. -Sleazegrinder ________________________________________________________________________ Vantasia photos courtesy Rodney Moore See the “Chronicles of Vantasia” on Bad Girl City ! Home |
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