Published on Jan 28, 2004
We’ve all seen it before.
A music scene breaks, a couple of bands get hyped to death and
forever etched into the public’s mind, and a flood of similar but
largely unheralded bands are left to fight it out amongst
themselves to stay on the music industry radar. Most of these bands
naturally wash out of perception after their initial release for
reasons generally no more complex than they were never as good as
their labels originally wanted them to be. So when I think of U.S.
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan coining the phrase
“irrational exuberance” a few years ago, I can’t help but prop him
for unintentionally describing this fallout as the “throw it
against the wall and let’s see what sticks” mentality that the
major labels are known to implore is actually happening once
again.
The scene I’m describing is the garage rock revival of 2001 to
present which has unearthed a bevy of noun bands highlighted by the
Hives, the White Stripes, and the Strokes. Another band that should
not only be on this list, but actually top it, is Finland’s Flaming
Sideburns and I’m here to tell you why.
It all starts at the top. Mixing a silky smooth Argentinean
vocalist, Eduardo “Speedo” Martinez, with an inspiringly matched
percussion and string ensemble led by drummer Jay Burnside and
guitarist Ski Williamson, the Sideburns have created a formula that
is as extremely different as it is similar to the garage rock scene
they are properly linked to. In fact, there’s a complimentary
airiness to the way that the Flaming Sideburns tune their
instruments that make me actually wonder if they don’t record in a
carport rather than a typical garage. Sounds like a novel approach,
eh? There’s more.
Martinez’ greatest strength is the fact he does sound undeniably
South American with his vocal pitch while combining the swagger of
a Mick Jagger and the aura of a Lou Reed. And it’s not contrived,
folks; it’s the real deal. A track like “Loose My Soul” exhibits
the swagger quality beautifully as Martinez initially rallies a
simulated crowd with a Spanish spoken charge all the while a crowd
roar builds. The result culminates with an upbeat wah-wah drenched
boogie anthem that is filled with such a charismatic vocal touch
that even the regarded Hives front man Pelle Almqvist would find
himself spitting and drooling over it.
Moreover, when garage bands attempt ballads, all hell generally
breaks loose as the concept is a polar opposite to what the genre
stands for. The Flaming Sideburns attempt it with the
track”Stripped Down” and come up with something that would surely
generate an accusation or two that they were plundering the back
catalogue of the Velvet Underground. I haven’t seen the talented
White Stripes vocalist Jack White pull this off yet.
And for good measure, I’m sure we all remember the Toyota
television commercial from 2002 with the driver of a Camry stopping
on the freeway to do a simulated snow angel on the road in glee.
The soundtrack to this madness is a seven- or eight-second blurb
from the frenetic “Street Survivor,” a song that the band obviously
sold Toyota on the concept/title alone. I’ll hedge a bet that the
overrated Strokes, with their Casablancas Hollywood connection,
will never find such profile in one of their tracks now or in the
future.
And to think that the Flaming Sideburns are legitimate garage
rockers and they achieve such undeniable diversity to their mix.
The attention to varying the track order on
Hallelujah Rock n’ Rollah only serves to highlight this
observation and is an activity other bands of the retro-rock ilk
would be wise to invest more time.
Furthermore, this review wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t
recognize the band copping a great rendition of that undeniable
twangy, echo drenched sound on “Lonesome Rain” which is dead on
surf revival material. Radio Birdman, the forgotten Australian
forefathers of the ’70s punk movement, are the band I think of that
could sound as compelling with this genre and to think — their
songs were laid to wax 25 years ago!
So while hard-rock “noun bands” have become a dime a dozen these
days, the Flaming Sideburns have figured out a way to create their
own interesting stereotype with their second full-length album
Hallelujah Rock n’ Rollah. Always eclectic, never stale, and
a band that music listeners wisely should pay attention to.