ROCK
AND ROLL NAPALM - The Resistoleros (Steel
Cage)Do we really need another band whose liner notes spruik that they want to turn the clock back to "relive the screaming guitars of the Dead Boys, to see the drunks and the junkies before the habits came home"? Or whose stated ambition is to "drink
like
Sid, look like Billy and fuck like Iggy"? The answer is yes, and in the
great Ken Shimamoto's (paraphrased) words, "if you don't have dreams you
have nightmares". Live fast, die young cliches aside, the Resistoleros
want to BE your rock and roll nightmare - and that in itself is an admirable
sentiment.Don't know much about this Bay Area band except that singer Sammytown was in a well-regarded/reviled Berkley outfit called Fang and the Resistoleros are on Steel Cage, the estimable Philadelphia label that gives oxygen to all manner of cool bands but has a leaning towards Scum Rock. Named after a brand of glue, The Resistoleros have streetpunk blood in their veins but seem to draw more on the tuneage of bands like the Humpers, Electric Frankenstein or the early Clash rather than out-and-out sonic vandalism.
There's a dose of U.K. football terrace chants in some of the choruses ("Resistoleros" and the catchy "Desperate Times") and an accomplished edge to the guitarwork of Alby Wasted and Jonny Manak that puts them a chord ahead of the pack. More like the (Aussie) Hitmen or the (New York) Dictators than your average gutterpunks but, hey, even the Dead Boys had a degree of musicality to them. Any band that has a song "Caught With Your Panties Down" certainly won't object to that last comparison.
Engine rooms are often overlooked which is a crime because there might be rock but there sure ain't any roll wiithout a good pairing anchoring it down. They don't come much better than Brian Shaffer on bass and Ike Eischener on drums.
There's a dearth of 9/11 songs in the Real Rock category (you're not really going to count Broooce are you?) so "9/11" fills a gap with a seeming pro-U.S. sentiment, which is a rarity. Not that you should count these guys in the politcal rock camp - these are songs about angst and grit, not politico shit. If there's a criticism it's that a few of the songs merge into each other, but that's down to the relentless nature of the guitar attack more than anything. There are, however, enough high points to justify giving this more than a passing listen.
- The Barman
1/2