Get Re-Run Over By Royalty

By the end of the week this little number by Washington's scuzz lords Royal Trux will once more be available to the public. Recorded in the lead-up to their hotly anticipated Euro tour in 1998 (following the critical acclaim for their LP Accelerator) the 3-Song EP was banged together in quick order (a fourth track, a cover of Dire Straits' 'Money For Nothing', was recorded as well but kept aside for a UK B-side release). The three songs run the gamut of Trux infamy - funky cold radness ('Deafer Than Blind'); wigging the fuck out ('The United States v One 1974 Cadillac El Dorado Sedan'); and the raucous balls-to-the-wall rock ('Run, Shaker Life'). It has everything in high-octane place - Jennifer Herrema's irresistible growl, Neil Hegarty's serrated guitar brilliance, whilst joined by David Pajo (Slint, Tortoise) on bass and the blistering Jon Theodore (Mars Volta, QOTSA) on drums...godDAMN! Such an electric band. And to think that the duo are back together (at least in a musical sense, releasing a new Black Bananas album early next year with two songs penned by the duo)! Maybe we will see something like this on our plates sooner than we ever thought possible...

3-Songs can be gleaned on pre-order through Drag City here.

Royal Trux - Deafer Than Blind

Abbe May - Nay, WILL - Design Our Desire

Amongst the long list of bullet points that constitutes my loves, there's one at the top that burns like a beacon - I love me a good woman. Its just who I am - Im only human(ish).

But there is a definitive post script to this love of mine, for what I really love is a female that rocks. But not just rocks (attractive girls in bands aren't enough; my well documented disdain for the Dum Dum Girls should have signposted that...), but really really rocks - can wail on their instruments, rip the balls out of a vocal and sell the whole deal to the Devil with change to spare.

Abbe May is that kind of female.

Design Desire is the West Australian's third album, and whilst it still doesn't harness the power (let alone the sexiness) that May exudes exponentially in the live arena, it certainly should help sell her case that she is one of the most unique rock singer/songwriters in the country, and deserved of wider acclaim across the globe. 'Mammalian Locomotion' and 'Design Desire', the first two singles from Abbe's third album, indicate a new direction; showcasing heavy, scaling riffs and seductively ethereal vocals. May is an intense and primal live performer, capable of slaying an audience with her electric guitar and then stripping it back to a disarmingly intimate delivery. Design Desire itself offers simultaneously heavy and delicately beautiful sonics, the yin and the yang of the enigma that is Abbe May. There are rock influences everywhere, if you want that sort of thing - Polly Jean, Alison Mosshart, even Josh Homme in the grooves underpinning 'Universes'. But she is very much her own woman, and cuts an imposing musical presence that needs to be experienced.

And goddamn she can play the guitar...

Design Desire is out today on Source Music/MGM.

Abbe May - Design Desire
Abbe May - Mammalian Locomotion

Mercy Beating A Shampooed Yak

A few weeks ago I went along to the Step Inn here in Brisbane to watch Front End Loader. As always they were impressive - really got off on the new track 'Decisions Decisions Decisions' - but was equally enamoured with the support acts, one of which was locals The Mercy Beat. They didnt really appear to fit in on this bill - their modus operandi is aggressive stoner rock stylings that straddles both Kyuss and Queens Of The Stone Age - if Josh Homme took over the creative duties whilst John Garcia still ruled the mic, so to speak. That's a lofty summation of their sound, but they pulled off an electric show, really balls out rock with enough meat hanging off the bones to choke the vegans of this world.

The Mercy Beat arent new to the scene though, having released debut album How To Shampoo A Yak last year after playing incessantly all over the shop. They supported The Bronx, Trash Talk and H2O earlier this year, and with these touchstones the ferocious engine room that propels and pummels in equal measures will only rise in strength and (hopefully) arrogance. This is the type of sound that deserves to be flaunted with a recklessly flailed fist, raising a smile to your face even as they successfully pulp it to bits.

The Mercy Beat are off on a national tour later this month, playing in Sydney, Newcastle, Melbourne, Woolongong, and (R)Adelaide, and then doing a few coast shows as well - get out and see what they are dishing out.

Latest tracks by The Mercy Beat

A semi QOTSA reunion - over a pre-teen bar room killer?

To continue my rather unexpected theme of hard rock bands and their affiliations with disturbing cinema, I just stumbled on this trailer for a short film coming out in a few weeks' time. The film, Frame 137, is based on a graphic story from James O'Barr, the creator of The Crow and inadvertant co-creator of many a faux S&M/goth/emo poseur. The music - constructed by none other than Nick Olivieri and Dave Grohl, who havent been seen together since the Songs For The Deaf sessions of the 'golden age' of Queens Of The Stone Age. Seeing that both left the band after this, and Josh Homme's outfit has had varying degrees of success since, it might be safe to say that these two provided the killer rhythm section to drive forth some of the most visceral stoner rock ever. Now that the two are collaborating on the soundtrack of Frame 137, is there any hope for something more? Anyway, get a snippet of it on the below teaser trailer. Oh, and how does the film look? Make up your own mind - Im not sure how good it will be, but having a 10 year old eviscerate a bar room full of sleazy ruffians, even setting one alight by spitting alcohol on them and lighting it, means it will be...full on...

Frame 137 Teaser from Judd L. Tilyard on Vimeo.