Published on Aug 18, 2005
According to English gangster lore, the scar one gets from being
cut ear to ear is known as a Chelsea smile. Today, it is known as a
Los Angeles quartet that is rapidly becoming known as former
Agnostic Front and Danzig member Todd Youth’s new hard rock
band.
Recently, I caught the Chelsea Smiles live as an opener to the
Backyard Babies and, after the gig, I walked away knowing that I
had been exposed to a band that was easily the match of the
headliner I had driven five hours to see. Such a thing doesn’t
happen very often in my world.
Picking up their debut E.P,
Nowhere Ride, at the merchandise table that night, I have
been reveling in this nasty little taster of what I expect their
soon-to-be released full-length album to more fully reveal. Nowhere
Ride offers up four singles of a slightly tinged punk sound mixed
with more of a straightforward rock output that sounds as good on
CD as it does live. With Youth, guitarist Christian Black (Dee Dee
Ramone’s band), bassist John Martin, and drummer Karl Rosqvist
actually carrying the street cred from their past associations to
match their all black clothing attire, there is hope that this band
is built to last.
The track “Action Coming Down” is the bona fide hit single when
Capitol gets around to releasing the album. Youth’s vocals are
intelligibly straightforward and melodic – more so than my personal
favorite track from the album, “Freakout.” The title of the second
song is more of a headstrong effort and carries more testosterone
than labels usually are willing to release these days. Still,
there’s nothing stiff about either these songs or the title track,
which rounds out the three original songs here.
Perhaps to establish their credibility even further, the Chelsea
Smiles also include a cover of the New York Dolls’ “Pirate Love,”
which deflates the tempo of the rest of the album despite the fact
that it’s a spot-on recording.
Match all this up with the fact that the Chelsea Smiles have
secured a major label contract in Capitol, this reviewer is hoping
that the foundation of homogenized rock bands such as Blink 182 and
Good Charlotte is about to crack. Nowhere Ride comes up aces and
should pave the way for the Chelsea Smiles to become a band people
will become more familiar with in the near future.