Published on Sep 29, 2003
Notably, a few things happened in the music world during the
second week of September. Obituaries aside, I’ll have to say that
the event topping my list was the long awaited launch of
Turbonegro’s North American club tour in Washington, D.C. and
Baltimore. Rather than hammer away on a detailed review of these
gigs, from which I was fortunate enough to emerge in a battered,
bruised, and undoubtedly pleased state, I’m choosing to get a few
things off my chest as I expand on an observation I was able to
take in at both shows. (Cover your ears, everyone!)
Listen up, folks! Turbonegro has a history that dates much
further back in time than this year’s
Scandinavian Leather release and their previous punk n’ roll
classic,
Apocalypse Dudes!
The reason I feel compelled to say this is due to the blank
looks I saw on most people’s faces when the band performed a
handful of tracks off 1997’s
Ass Cobra effort – the band’s third full length LP.
Turbonegro’s history is a rich one and 1997 was truly the pivotal
year for the band in gaining the traction to eventually, albeit
improbably, win Kerrang magazine’s, 2003 “Spirit of Independence”
award last month.
Ass Cobra was the album that came to define the true
embodiment of what death punk really means. I mean, to the masses
that attended these sold-out shows and sung every word to the
Apocalypse Dudes classic “Get it On” where vocalist Hank von
Helvete chants, “Gimme death punk baby,” I’m afraid that the true
meaning of death punk was lost on most people. All that song really
accomplishes with that lyric is a cheeky reference back to the
band’s previous days when their homosexual lyrics were actually
cold and calculating rather than anthemic (although brilliant)
spoofs on the same subject matter.
The defining example of death punk on
Ass Cobra is strictly attitudinal in its purest form. For
starters, “The Midnight NAMBLA” segues into the sound of a child
fearfully crying while cornered by the “nemesis of the toddler.”
One can’t help but be instinctively shocked. Incidentally, I played
this song for a buddy of mine for the first time on the drive to
the D.C. gig and he summed it up by saying, “That’s just wrong.”
I’ve been listening to this album since 1999 and frankly, I still
say the same thing.
While building a chorus around taking showers in Auschwitz,
“Deathtime” provides more lyrical shocks which are truthfully unfit
to print here. The lyrics offer up other surefire means for death
including performing homosexual acts in East Africa. Vocally, the
lyrics are delivered in a desperate fashion and instrumentally, Pal
Pot Pamparius and Rune Rebellion’s guitars deliver conviction by
way of a friction-filled feedback assault when paired with the
pounding bass line of Bingo Calmeyer.
Troubling as those thoughts may be, Turbonegro threaten to
exterminate the skateboard kids they despise with the fumigating
agent, Zyklon-B, in the song “Turbonegro Hate the Kids” while
additionally depicting efforts of running from a child murderer by
the name of Bad Mongo in a track that goes by the same name.
With these examples, I do hesitate to discount the vibe on
Ass Cobra as anything resembling a half-baked attempt at
shock rock. Using Zyklon-B in a song strays from such normal
sensibility. The menacing vocals throughout the album effectively
haunt one’s soul.
With warped humor, Hank von Helvete also finds time to give
American punk rock boys a scolding for going out with the new-wave
hooker girls (as opposed to punk rock girls) in a 50-second rant as
he introduces a “Norwegian folk song” by threatening death to any
Norwegian punk rocker contemplating similar activity. The track,
“Imorgen Skal Eg Daue” is forgettable but Hank’s rant is as close
to anything that might be described as lighthearted on this
album.
Notwithstanding the tonal despair that abounds on
Ass Cobra, the song “Denim Demon” is Turbonegro at their
best in either yesterday’s terms or the ones that define today’s
more modern rock sounds found on
Scandinavian Leather. Taking the lyrics at face value for
what the band represents, the song is crafted in a way that ensures
it will be a continued legitimate hit as the band continues to
build their catalog. Where “I Got Erection” garners the most
attention as the recognizable track on
Ass Cobra, it’s truthfully too simple and silly a song for
the band to hang their hat on.
So anyways, while the actions of many fans at the Turbonegro
shows seemed forced when the
Ass Cobra tracks were performed this past weekend, I’ll be
the first to confess that the fact that over 800 people attended
these two shows was a vast improvement over the people that
witnessed their comeback tour as openers for Queens of the Stone
Age in March of this year. At that time, those folks just didn’t
get it from the two shows I then witnessed as a series of catcalls
and projectiles were forcibly aimed at the band.
The darkness which is known as Turbonegro is spreading these
days; folks just need to be prepared to explore the band’s roots to
realize that the band’s breakthrough started from the deep and
disturbing underground. The songs and imagery are surely not for
everyone but with
Ass Cobra, Turbonegro has outdone anything “shocking” that
the once-acclaimed Marilyn Manson or 2 Live Crew ever
attempted.