Remember the Screaming Blue Messiahs?

http://www.myspace.com/mightylemondrops

so i just listened to the screaming blue messiahs's *gun shy* for the first time in at least a decade and a half (bought a used vinyl copy in seattle two weeks ago), and seemingly the song that "kerosene" by miranda lambert kept reminding me of last year (more for its groove than its riff, apparently) is "someone to talk to," the chorus of which goes "if i die in a combat zone, box me and send me home/if i die on the russian front, bury me with a russian cunt." it's also one of the harder rocking songs on the album (as is the closer, "killer born man"), which album, in general, doesn't rock nearly as hard as i remembered it doing. the LP also has more country referents than i remembered -- a cover-sort-of of hank williams's "you're gonna change," an opener that says "i do believe that country air is the only fit to breathe," a rockabilly tune called "president kennedy's smile." basically what i guess they did was take fall/mekons/three johns/nightingales dada and birthday party backwoods murder shtick and made it less arty, which is okay -- kicks harder than indie rock, not as hard as pub rock (well, except for the last three songs or so, starting with the "kerosene" one.) i think some of the three guys in the band had some connection to an earlier pub rock band called motor boys motor. and though they'll use diddley or funk or reggae or as i said rockabilly rhythms, the music really doesn't have all that much boogie to it; i played it right after zz top's new wave LP *el loco,* and no way art they in the same class. the guitars never really haul off and punch you in the sucker, not even in those final tracks. also, as i pointed out on the metal thread, frank blank totally stole the singer's haircut. (christgau compared them to the clash, i think; there' a pinch of that too, i guess.)
-- xhuxk (xhux...), May 2nd, 2006.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(on the other hand, it's worth noting that pretty much all the songs sounded familiar after 15 or 20 years, and i don't remember being *completely* obsessed with the album when it first came out, so that says a lot about the band's ability to write quality hooks. the lyrics are generally fairly straightforward and not buried in bullshit, too, which is probably part of what i mean about being less arty than the fall or the mekons etc. and even though their melodies and singing aren't nearly as pretty as the clash's could be, i can see how their openness to different rhythms -- and the mere fact of their having a rhythm section, never something to be taken for granted from british people -- could remind xgau of the clash. unlike, say, rancid, they really don't *sound* like the clash. but they do have a certain clashiness nonethless. one of their songs is even called "smash the marketplace.")
-- xhuxk (xhux...), May 2nd, 2006.

I haven't listened closely enough to the demos on myspace to say, but my first impression was they were pretty good.

Bikini Red is awesome.

Ha ha, supposedly (according to the Times Style section I think), Leary's 16-year-old son picks the music. Most of which seems to be really shitty Britpop give or take the barbershop quartet episode (which I just watched last night -- as usual, I'm a couple seasons behind the cable-equipped, but I'm through episode three of season two thanks to Netflix DVDs; watched five or six episodes over the weekend). Anyway, I only learned yesterday that the theme song is "C'Mon C'Mon" by the Von Bondies; needed google's help to figure that out. I *probably* heard the song before, when it was apparently sort of a small radio hit a couple years ago, but damned if I could place it. I'd liked the Von Bondies' previous LP when it came out, but never got into that semi-hit one. Anyway, I'm addicted to the show, thanks to the Catholocism angle (which I actually wished they played up more), not to mention the asshole angle and alcohol angle, but it's got a lot of problems too, obviously. (I was even wondering if there'd been an ILX thread on it, but was too lazy to seach.)

YSI?

Bill Carter, king of modesty

fwiw, Totally Religious was my favorite of the three. Mmmm... "Wall of Shame" is such an asskicker.

"Wild Blue Yonder" was used in an episode of the Denis Leary firemen-are-all-assholes-but-assholes-got-problems-too show Rescue Me last night.

Ha, I just saw this last night. (DVD of the third season came out June 5, went straight to the top of my Netflix queue.) Sounded great, unlike much of the Coldplay-style crap Leary usually picks. On the other hand, when he picks stuff that sounds like Afghan Whigs, it makes a lot of sense. Dennis Leary (or the character he plays, Tommy Gavin, anyway) and Greg Dulli have a lot in common, seems to me. They should play some Hold Steady sometime, though, for the Catholic element. (Maybe that happens later?)