WELCOME TO DUMPSVILLE - Shutdown 66 (Get Hip)Finally out on CD, this is the first album from Melbourne R & B maniacs Shutdown 66 and if its wider availabilty through the digital medium (as in little shiny silver discs....like, CDs) isn't enough incentive for you to rush out and grab it, well, you
should
be shot with a ball of your own shit. The Shutdowns have three long players out now ("Heading for the Cheating Side of Town" and "Gotta Gotta Get Me to Out of It" being the others), all of them exclusively on vinyl to this point - although there is a very rare and eminently collectable promo CD covering all of those releases. Taking the plunge and going digitial was probably the only way they were going to find a wider audience. Good thing, too, 'cos this is hotrodding shit that leaves much of its ilk like a yellow Volvo at the traffic lights. If you're unfamiliar with the band's ouevre, think the Missing Links, the Purple Hearts or the Pretty Things. Toss in Thee Headcoatees, if you want to be comparatively contemporary. If you've read this far, you probably don't want to be, so add the Downliner Sect.
Mainman Nicky Shutdown provides the wailing vocals and the rest of the band - Jamie Shutdown on bass, Scotty 66 on drums, Camby Shutdown on organ and guitar and Bad Micky Shutdown on bass and guitar - the raucous backdrop to tales of alienation and teen rejection (what, you expected torch songs or showtunes?) Maraccas, occasional organ and some wonderful harp, courtesy of Ricky Shutdown and Doogie Shutdown - and yes, you could make the observation that there sure are a lot of Shutdowns in this band - augment the sound.
There could be many reasons to procure this disc but we can't think of many better than the tune "Shutdown 66". Nicky makes it clear on this that he's a loser: "Weeeeeelllll, I never had nooooo money/And no luck with chicks/I'm shutdown, man/Shutdown 66". You'll want to be one, too, (and, like, you're not one already, mate?) Tune down, drop out.
