Published on Jun 2, 2005
Hermano is no Supafuzz. Conversely, Supafuzz was no Hermano,
even though both bands included guitarist/vocalist Dave Angstrom
and drummer Chris Leathers. Supafuzz built a regional following in
my area with their excellent 2000 release
All About The Rock (which has been
reviewed on this site). Their live CD
Down For The Underground (also
reviewed on this site) managed to
capture the band’s appeal while leaving fans begging for more.
Their latest release
Vertigo . . . I haven’t heard.
Hermano, though, I have. Hooking up with vocalist John Garcia
and bassist/guitarist Dandy Brown, each with their own impressive
resume of previous musical endeavors, Angstrom and Leathers sound
exceptional. In all, the material veers toward the stoner rock
genre without getting sucked into the pitfalls of the genre. There
are no 9:00 instrumental jams based upon the same riff, nor are
there any blatant and stupid drug references, unless you count sex
as a drug.
There are definite traces of the Supafuzz vibe. Opener “Cowboys
Suck” has the same driving drumbeat of the Supafuzz material. But
this review is not going to be a 1:1 comparison between Supafuzz,
one of my favorite bands ever, and Hermano. Supafuzz is no longer a
functioning unit. I tend to get frustrated with critics that
compare a musician’s former band with their current band. Try to
find an Audioslave review that doesn’t mention Rage Against The
Machine or Soundgarden.
That said, Hermano is at times quite vulgar. Sometimes it works,
sometimes it doesn’t. Focusing on two songs “Quite Fucked” and
“Let’s Get It On” show the effects of vulgarity in the band’s
material. Simply, Hermano got it all wrong with “Quite Fucked.” The
song drags into a mindless chant of “Go motherfucker motherfucker
go” that has me wishing the motherfucker would listen and, well, go
already. The song is painfully vulgar and the lyrics are stupid.
Any garage band could have written a song with the chant in this
song. It’s as annoying as the chorus in the House of Pain tune
“Jump Around.” I routinely skip “QF” when spinning this CD.
Another track I skip is the stupid closer “Angry American.” This
song goes downhill almost immediately when it builds the bulk of
the song with the following lyrics repeated: “Look at me, look at
me, look at me, look at me, look at me, I’m the angry American.”
Yes, the subject in this song is an angry American and also
incapble of writing a decent song about being angry.
However, when Hermano gets the stupid lyrics out of the way,
they are lethal as a band. “Let’s Get It On” stands out slightly
more than the former. Consider the lyrics from outsider Aleah X,
known for her vocal work with the band Devil May Care (which both
Angstrom and Leathers are members of): “I’ve got you on my mind / I
want to screw you blind . . . I try hard to be nice but you’ll
never fuck me twice.” In this case, the vulgarity works towards the
theme of the song. The lyrics are as vulgar as other tracks but
just seem more intelligent. They aren’t saying the F word because
they have nothing better to say.
The low-key calm “Murder One” stands out with an acoustic guitar
riff and handclaps that breaks up the driving rock drumbeats
throughout the rest of the release. The guitar solo is soulful and
thought-out. Another standout is second track “Life.” Drummer Chris
Leathers has a sensational style that incorporates cymbals, toms,
and the snare into a hypnotic rhythm. The riff Angstrom plays in
the verse follows the drum pattern until the chorus, when he
introduces a new riff. All the while Garcia’s vocal melody melts
into the rhythms of the song.
I wanted to like Hermano more than I did. In the end, I found
listening to Hermano a frustrating use of my time. There are
glimpses of a fantastic band in some of this material. Then the
next track should have hit the cutting room floor. I think the band
needed an outsider to listen to the songs and ultimately say, “No.
You don’t really want to include “Quite Fucked” or “Angry American”
because those songs are not as good as the rest as the others.”
Unfortunately, they didn’t have that outsider around when they were
putting the final touches on this release.