Rock ‘n’ Roll Farm Report: Dave Alvin, Hamell On Trial, Rebel Meets Rebel, The Socially Retarded, Jeff Watson (July 2006)

July 2006

The “Rock ‘n’ Roll Farm Report” was a short-lived review column that ran on our Alt.Culture.Guide™ website for almost a year until we closed the site, not due to lack of readers, but from lack of time and money to continue the project. Still, as these columns show, we reviewed a diverse range of music...

DAVE ALVIN – West of the West
It’s a pretty cool idea, really, roots-rocker Dave Alvin delivering an inspired concept album of songs written exclusively by California scribes. Of course, Alvin knew that he was hedging his bet to begin with – when you’re drawing from a roster as deep and talented as that of West Coast songwriters, how could you go wrong? West of the West offers up Alvin’s take on a baker’s dozen of Cali’s best, songs from both well-known wordmongers like Jackson Browne, Brian Wilson, and Tom Waits to lesser-known-but-equally-talented folks like Kate Wolf, Jim Ringer and, well, Dave Alvin.
    Alvin’s warm, friendly vocals seldom overshadow the lyrics, and the band reinvents these tunes with subtlety and loose-limbed elan. So, whether it’s Browne’s “Redneck Friend,” John Fogerty’s “Don’t Look Now,” Merle Haggard’s wonderful “Kern River” or Blackie Ferrell’s “Sonora’s Death Row,” Alvin does an admirable job of honoring his home state’s rich musical heritage with his finest collection of Americana yet. (Yep Roc Records)

HAMELL ON TRIAL – Songs For Parents Who Enjoy Drugs
Pursuing an original, unique folk-rock style that positively bristles with punk energy and attitude, singer/songwriter Ed Hamell has what Frank Zappa once called “no commercial potential.” A self-proclaimed loudmouth with leftist tendencies, Hamell has never shied away from confrontation, both with himself and the powers that be. Songs For Parents Who Enjoy Drugs, Hamell’s sixth studio effort, finds the songwriter’s observations as keen and as deadly as ever. “Inquiring Minds,” a conversation between father and son, is spot-on – funny and smart and all-too-true-to-life for many of us of the “lost generation” between the boomers and Gen X, while “Values” reveals the child’s innocent wisdom.
    Hamell likes to tease the bear at least once per album and “Coulter’s Snatch” takes the fight to the conservative right’s reigning bottle-blonde pin-up queen. The artist’s story-songs are generally populated by the junkies, dealers, whores, and petty criminals that exist on the fringes of polite society, and most songs eschew political correctness in favor of sex, drugs, or political binges. Aided and abetted by producer and fellow traveler Ani DiFranco, Ed Hamell is anything but polite, the raucous wordsmith swinging wildly at his targets like a punch-drunk pugilist, connecting with the knock-out blow more often than not. (Righteous Babe Records)

REBEL MEETS REBEL – Rebel Meets Rebel
The senseless death of metal giant “Dimebag” Darrell is all the more tragic considering that the talented guitarist had a lot of music left to share. The best example of this is Rebel Meets Rebel, a collaborative effort between Dimebag, his brother Vinnie Paul, and outlaw country legend David Allen Coe. Growing up in Texas, the brothers were huge fans of Coe’s music, and somewhere along the Pantera/Damageplan road-to-ruin they had the pleasure of meeting their longtime idol. As musicians are often want to do, they agreed that they should get together sometime and write some songs. Mind you, these informal agreements seldom bear musical fruit, but in the case of these three madmen, they created the metallic twangfest that they called “Rebel Meets Rebel.”
    With Coe supplying vocals and lyrics in front of a band that includes brother Vinnie blistering the skins, Dimebag delivering his typical scorched-earth six-string pyrotechnics and bassist Rex Brown holding down the bottom end, these songs kick serious ass! An unlikely mix of honky-tonk country, Southern-fried funk and uber shred-metal, this bastard hybrid actually works! The album’s inspired instrumentation reveals previously unseen facets of Darrell’s talents, the hard-rocking results both breathtaking and invigorating. This is muscular music that takes the best of its myriad influences and proceeds to knock down the house with a sonic fury, creating a fitting epitaph to the amazing career of the one-and-only Dimebag Darrell. R.I.P. (rock in peace) big guy! (Big Vin Records)

THE SOCIALLY RETARDED – As One Voice
Punk rock has become a fragile thing, as overrun with poseurs as any other genre. It’s all grubby guys in torn jeans and weird haircuts trying to score chicks and a major label deal, fighting in vain to keep their “street cred” while pursuing a musical vision that is long on radio-friendly pop melodies and short on bone-crunching, three-chord riffery. Not so with T.S.R. – The Socially Retarded are a throwback to the gabba gabba heyday of the Ramones and the sturm-und-drang of the Clash. No mindless cretins, these ‘tards, but rather a ‘nad-knocking, eardrum-jarring trio of teen punk diehards delivering some tasty tunes with socially conscious lyrics and a blur of ripping leads and crashing rhythms.
    As One Voice may be short, clocking in at a mere 30 minutes, but it’s street-tuff and hits as hard as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse playing the girl next door’s birthday party. Guitarist Ryan Reyes has a great punk voice, throaty and passionately spitting out lyrics, while bassist Aaron Chaney and drummer Matt Garcia stir up their monster rhythms with something more adventuresome than your typical punk-rawk clickbeat. It’s all the more amazing that these guys are still in high school, ‘cause they’ve got a better grasp on their music than a lot of older, more established bands. T.S.R. remind me a lot of the old SST label bands, and that’s a high compliment. As One Voice scores on my charts as one of the best punk albums you’ll hear this year. The Rev sez “check it out!” (Mental Records)  

VARIOUS ARTISTS – Hopelessly Devoted To You, Vol. 6
Epitaph Records may get all the press, and Victory Records gets all the chart action, but while many indie labels have inched closer and closer to the mainstream, Hopeless Records and its sister label, Sub City, have kept the flame alive for punk and underground rock. As is the custom with many indie labels, Hopeless has used low-priced compilations as a way to introduce potential fans to the label’s bands, and the sixth volume of their popular Hopelessly Devoted To You series is their biggest and baddest set yet. Imagine two CDs, packed with three-dozen songs, complimented by a bonus DVD featuring music videos from better than two-dozen bands…all for less than a sixer of fancy imported brew!
    Disc one features music from new/recent Hopeless/Sub City releases from bands like Against All Authority, Kaddisfly, All Time Low, and Ever We Fall, including previously unreleased and live tracks from Thrice, Amber Pacific, and Mustard Plug. Disc two revisits the storied history of Hopeless/Sub City, with essential (and oft-times rare) tracks from Guttermouth, the Queers, Against All Authority, Thrice, Avenged Sevenfold, and Dillinger Four, among many others. The bonus DVD includes cheap video thrills from most of the aforementioned bands as well as Scared of Chaka, the Weakerthans, and 88 Fingers Louie. It’s altogether a very cool package, lots of rocking audio and video for very little money, so what the hell are you waiting for? Go get it already! (Hopeless Records)

JEFF WATSON – Now Hear This One
The Reverend was never much of a Night Ranger fan back in the day. They were too commercial, too polished to be of real interest, much less to hold my attention beyond the opening chords of “Sister Christian.” Don’t hold his stint in Night Ranger against Jeff Watson, though – any guitarist that releases an album on Mike Varney’s Shrapnel Records label is OK in my book. Judging from the tunes on Now Hear This One, Watson’s new “digital only” release on Universal’s UMe Digital label, there’s more going on here than meets the eye. Freed from the constraints of a purely commercial release, Watson has allowed his six-string muse to explore various styles of playing and musical genres on Now Hear This One, and the results are simply intoxicating.
    It helps Watson’s cause that he weaves intricate, hypnotic ‘60s-inspired jams like “Moment of Truth,” sounding like Quicksilver Messenger Service’s best psychedelic moments, or that he waxes ecstatic with muscular tracks like “Wander Lust” or “Simple Man.” Both songs would sound too cool on rock radio if such a thing still existed. Now Hear This One is a fine album for fans of rock guitar, AOR, and ‘60s-styled musical experimentation that you just can’t get anywhere else these days. Jeff Watson is an unheralded talent, often overlooked because of his success with Night Ranger. However, even a casual listen to Now Hear This One proves that there’s much more to Watson than his hit songs. You’ll find this one only in cyberspace, on iTunes, and other fine digital download services. (UMe Digital)

The View On Pop Culture: Hamell On Trial, Singapore Sling, Strung Out (2003)

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Across this great nation of ours, school is back in session and millions of teenagers, whether in high school or college, are carrying music back to the campus with them. Music has become such a seamless part of the everyday lives of many teens that they no longer look at how it is thrust upon them by the major labels. High-stakes marketing, “street teams,” the constant din of advertising, commercial radio placement and movie and television licensing all conspire to flood the young music-lover’s subconscious with one message – buy this CD! There are some of us who still believe that the music is the message, however, and that cheap rock ‘n’ roll thrills can still be found outside of the system. For our campus-bound readers, here are a few artists that you should take back to school with you…

Ed Hamell is not your typical rocker and Hamell On Trial – Ed and a revolving cast of friends – is not your typical rock band. First of all, Ed can’t really sing that well, although he’ll surprise you with a soulful performance every now and then. Instead, Hamell spits out his lyrical invective in a half-spoken/half-chanted cadence that often drives his point home with all the subtlety of a ball-peen hammer. And he’s not that good of a musician, really, an adequate guitarist with a fine knowledge of folk chords, a few rock riffs and a bluesy undercurrent. What Ed Hamell is, however, is a thoroughly enchanting storyteller with a keen eye for human behavior, an expansive vocabulary, and the ability to tie all of his strengths and weaknesses together to deliver a performance stronger and more meaningful than his technically proficient peers.

Hamell’s Tough Love (Righteous Babe) is the sidewalk scribe’s sixth album, a collection of personal observations and musical rants delivered with punkish attitude and high-energy glee. The songs speak for themselves, whether when Hamell revisits his near-fatal car wreck on “Downs” or remembers the victims of mindless hate on “Hail.” Hamell is at his best when he’s raging against the machine, offering more thought-provoking concepts in a single verse than most “socially-conscious” artists manage on an entire album. “Don’t Kill” is a fractured-take on God’s commandment; Hamell’s echoed vocals and a powerful beat calling on Christians, Muslims, and Jews alike to stop the violence in no uncertain terms. “Halfway” is Hamell’s call to arms, though, taking to task those who prostitute themselves in the name of commerce or those who would use patriotism as a cover for their agenda. Hamell admits that he’s “a self-righteous prick with a great big mouth,” adding “but I’m sick to death of mediocrity and lies.” A perfect fit with Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe label, Hamell On Trial is as real as a knifepoint mugging and as welcome as a warm bath at the end of the day.     

Forget about Sweden or New Zealand or New York City ‘cause the real garage-rock vibe is sounding from Iceland, where Singapore Sling is keeping it real with a hardcore blend of three-chord rock, noisy psychedelica and feedback ambiance. Singapore Sling has more in common with other Velvet Underground acolytes like My Bloody Valentine or the Jesus & Mary Chain than with folks like the Strokes or the Vines. The band’s incredible debut disc, The Curse of Singapore Sling (Stinky Records) is a breath of ice-cold air blasting away the pretensions of a stale American alt-rock scene. Guitarist/songwriter Henrik Björnsson has crafted an excellent collection of dense, multi-textured songs that offer often-gentle vocals, screaming guitar riffs, layer upon layer of noise and the strongest rhythms this side of Killing Joke. With The Curse of Singapore Sling, the Icelandic cult rockers have successfully bridged four decades of rock ‘n’ roll, tying the ‘60s/‘70s/‘80s/‘90s together with a broken guitar string, Singapore Sling creating a highly-amped blueprint for alternative rock in the new century.
    

There’s been a lot of chatter among the musical punditry these days over bands like AFI and the Ataris that have made the jump from the indie world to major label status. For my money, however, they’re missing the boat if they’re not looking at Strung Out. Marginalized by critics as a minor league hardcore outfit, methinks they should get the cotton out of their collective ears and give Strung Out a closer listen. The band’s 2002 release, An American Paradox, proved to be the sort of artistic breakthrough that better-known and younger punk rockers have yet to experience. Live In A Dive (Fat Wreck Chords) captures this incendiary band in its natural element, live and onstage in front of an all-ages crowd of eager young punks.

Live In A Dive serves to map out Strung Out’s musical evolution from fast-n-furious pop/punk plodders to the metal-edged hardcore monster they showed themselves to be with their last album. The live set includes representatives from all of Strung Out’s previous efforts, even throwing in a raging performance of “Population Control” from the band’s decade-old debut. It’s the recent material that draws the most recognition from the audience, however, solid performances of “The Kids” and “Velvet Alley” proving that Strung Out might very well be the next big thing to jump from the fringes of rock and into the currents of the mainstream. (View From The Hill, 2003)