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BRISBANE DOGHOUSE - ShrewmS (Turkeyneck Records)
They call it Thug Rock and they ain't wrong. Two guitars are often better than one - especially when their tone runs like two skid marks on a homeless man's undies. Here are 11 songs scooped out of the gutter and thrown at a wall that check all the usual Aussie references - and no-one's got any business cleaning them up.
ShrewmS have been plying their dishonourable trade around Brisbane since 2003. The latest line-up mixes things up with drummer Gregor Mulvey,bassist Angry Fave and guitarist Good Son Roberts alternately stepping up to the microphone. Co-founder Ross Henry sticks to guitar. There are photos of these guys on the Interwebs and you'd swear they'd been Photoshopped from a Crimestoppers poster. If looks could kill and you were on your way to one of their shows you'd be buying online life insurance from a Nigerian scammer, just to ensure your loved ones were taken care of.
The bio name-checks Powder Monkeys, X, and Bored! and who could argue? There's an obligatory slow one ("Naked Heart") that sounds like a post-grunge ballad. ShrewmS also throw in a curveball midway through with a cover of DEVO's Mongoloid. It's re-arranged without a keyboard in earshot and rocks in its own chunky way.
With titles like "Wild And Loose", "Lock and Load" and "Kicking The Dog" you know what you're going to get. It's mostly mid-tempo to moderately-fast punk rock with a rock solid rhythm foundation. Some stinging guitar ("Lock and Load") and off-key chorusing ("Tent City") jump out either side of some of the roughest vocals you'll hear this side of a maximum security prison shower. "New Farmed Eskimo" breaks the mould fractionally with some percussive punctuation from "For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)."
Production is uncluttered and lets the grime show through. I do wish it had been just a tad dirtier. But I'm not complainingmuch. As for what it isn't - it's not innovative, ground-breaking or remotely new. ShrewmS take the well-worn path trod by successive waves of Aussie pub/punk rockers - and that's why if you have a remote connection to gutter-level rock and roll, you'll stick to them like a bed-bound pensioner's shit to a blanket. –
The Barman
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MR
WHISP - ShrewmS (self released)
Dirty
and desperate sounding rock and roll from a Brisbane quartet I'd never heard
of. Anyone with half an ear for the stuff churned out by the likes of the
Powder Monkeys et al will need this six-track EP. Little wonder it carries
an endorsement from Evil Dick of Strutter in the
media release.
It's not rocket science, what these boys do. It's the time-honoured formula
of an insistent beat overlaid by well-played, metallic lead guitar and balls-out
vocals. The key differentiator is that ShrewmS do it damned well. Apparently
they used to toss the odd ska song into their sets. If this EP is representative,
they must have grown out of that. Nothing but straight-up, twin-guitar rawk
here.
At a guess ('cos I lost the one-sheet) drummer Gregor Mulvey handles most
of the vocals with Russ Henry and Scott The General dividing up guitar duties.
"Bangkok Lady" is the singalong pick (and there are no prizes for
figuring out the flavour of a lyric like: "Once you got it/You can chop
it off"). The choice of a Texas Terri cover in "Dirty Action"
is inspired as it doesn't get much more inked and confrontational than the
aforementioned lady.
"Let It Ride" rips into an intro copped from "Electrophonic
Tonic" before riding a wave of chorus-and-response. Accident or design?
You decide. If you're going to pinch something, steal it from the best.Sounds
good regardless.
I'd like to hear some more tonal variation in the lead guitarist's playing
but don't let that put you off. This is a more than respectable first-up effort
that should prick up some ears. I'd love to see them slug it out on a bill
with Adelaide's Meat Beaters and Sydney's Hell Crab City. The results would
be deafening carnage but well worth the earbleed. –
The Barman
2/3
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