I feel sorry for certain garage-rock bands today. Suffering at the
hand of a fad. Never given a fair chance. Heard through distorted
perceptions and expectations. Right off the bat — shunned —
guilty by association. Everything exists in a certain time and space,
and I wholeheartedly believe — contrary to (and perhaps because
of) current marketing trends — that now is neither the right
time nor space for aspiring garage-rock bands.
Once a band is deemed akin to the latest trend, they're instantly
accused of either exploiting the popularization of a particular genre
or attempting to fool the masses by passing off unoriginal, copycat
tunes merely to participate in the hyped-up movement. I don't care if
they were doing it way before it ever became cool or if
they just started up yesterday. I do care that many aren't being
given a fair shot. Just because the band is making music that —
for a flash in time — is gobbled up like free candy by the very
uncool mainstream does not mean the music the band is making
is in sync with other not-so-hip mainstream tastes, such as strip
malls and Happy Meals™.
Further, more is said about the circle the band's been tossed in than
the band itself. For example, Finland's Flaming Sideburns were
recently written up in a Village Voice garage-rock trend
piece. The article identified the group as one of the latest
invaders, said that they rip off the Velvet Underground (who
doesn't?) and have a new album out, yet failed to provide any useful
information about the band itself (i.e. sound description,
background, etc.). The band's been dumped into a category, dubbed yet
another contender in the race for super-stardom, and stripped of any
original merits or meanings it may have — victimized simply for
being a garage band.
Though the Flaming Sideburns' debut longplayer, Save Rock 'N'
Roll, is a bit cocksure in its claim and not blow-away
one-of-a-kind original in its songwriting, it's a stunning piece of
work. Listening to Save Rock 'N' Roll is as inviting as
sitting on your bedroom floor grooving out to your folks' old '60s
psychedelic rock and garage records — slow enough to groove to,
but heavy enough to rock out with as well.
Capturing a very '60s jangly feel, the Flaming Sideburns manage to
escape feeling too retro. Gritty, hard and led by distorted
scream-singing that sounds like it's coming from the back room, the
album is too heavy to feel as spastic as The Hives and too melodic
and edgy to feel as droning as The Hellacopters. As pointed out by
The Voice, "Flowers" borrows, with painful obviousness, from
the Velvets and stands — alongside "Stripped Down" — as the
album's softest, slowest tune. Shaking, grinding and spitting, "World
Domination" rocks out the hardest, while "Lonesome Rain" feels the
most mesmerizing for its surf-guitar riffs, hypnotic beats and
impassioned cries for understanding: "It's not that you were so good/
It's not that I was so mean/ We slept together/ But had different
dreams."
Not all garage-rock bands are good. But please. Keep in mind that
just 'cause garage happens to be IN right now doesn't mean they're
all bad either.
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