Published on Nov 18, 2003
You know what they say about artists not becoming famous until
they’re late in life or even dead, right? Such thoughts give me the
opportunity to draw the same conclusion about the marketing
mastermind at White Jazz Records that thought to package two
relatively obscure rock bands, the Hellacopters and Gluecifer,
together on the compilation
Respect the Rock back in 1997. Calling these bands relative
unknowns at the time was surely a generous statement to say the
least.
Well, maybe parts of Europe actually knew who the Hellacopters
were, since they had come out of nowhere to claim a Swedish Grammy
nomination for their debut album
Supershitty to the Max. Their vocalist and lead guitarist,
Nicke Andersson, had recently left his previous gig as the drummer
and sometimes vocalist for the highly acclaimed (even if it was
just in the underground) death-metal band Entombed, to create the
Hellacopters with three of his former drum techs.
Gluecifer, on the other hand, had yet to release a full album.
Sure, they had
19 Inches of Rock out in limited distribution at the time,
but that was a release that was nothing more than a compilation of
their first two EPs.
19 Inches of Rock barely had more copies in circulation in
1997 than the collective amount of the band’s first two EPs.
Respect the Rock is a six-track sampler that proved rock wasn’t
dead while grunge was at the height of its popularity. Mind you,
this album was also rock at its raunchiest and sweatiest form with
absolutely no pretensions being made towards anything other than
what was to come through the speakers. The term punk n’ roll is a
fitting description. That is, real attitudinal punk, not the happy
slop derivative that is commonly passed off for the genre
today.
Of the three Hellacopters tracks on the album, “You are Nothin'”
came billed in the liner notes as “a nasty little taster to give
you an idea how fucking brilliant our forthcoming album is.” The
Hellacopters had yet to release their second album
Payin’ the Dues at this time but had slated this track to
anchor that effort. As brazen as such a statement was, “You are
Nothin'” is truly a sledgehammer of a track that has eventually
become one of the band’s staple tracks. Dregen wah-wah’s his rhythm
guitar parts in distorted fashion while Andersson breaks off his
lead solos whenever the mood seemingly suits him on the song.
“Kick this One Slow” and “Another Place” don’t stray at all from
the formula of the first Hellacopters song. The two tracks are
loosely controlled jam sessions that harken back to the day when
the MC-5 were doing their thing. Additionally, the vocals sound as
if they are channeled through a ten-foot pipe which make sense for
a band rooted in a death metal past although there are enough
attempts at melody to make the songs footstompers in and of
themselves.
From the opening guitar riff on “Rock Throne,” Biff Malibu of
Gluecifer proves the stars are too easy a target to aim for as he
vocalizes that he’s “on the rock throne, all alone” in addition to
being the “king of rock” all in one pummeling chorus line.
Guitarists Raldo Useless and Captain Poon tapdance around Malibu’s
bravado with an equally punctuating assault. It’s 110% rock and
roll and as with the first Hellacopters track mentioned above,
“Rock Throne” is the track for which Gluecifer has come to be
known.
“Burnin’ White” and “No Way” are supercharged punk n’ roll
tracks that are equally aggressive in leaving little doubt that
maybe Gluecifer should be alone on their rock throne. Not a weak
lick to be found on either track.
So even with the slight head start that the Hellacopters story
had given them, history will prove that the two bands needed each
other as sparring partners during the early days in order to become
the heavyweights of the current Scandinavian Rock phenomena. It’s
not so much that aggressive rock n’ roll hadn’t been attempted in
the past; it’s just that rarely had there ever been such commitment
by the bands performing the said material to come off as true
masters of their craft. Singularly, each band on this disc had
enough creative ideas to make a few dents on their local audiences
but it took the public curiosity of two bands doing the same thing
from the largely out of the way lands of Scandinavia to build a
platform for greater things to come.
A clearer picture on the significance of the
Respect the Rock release develops two years later as the
U.S. label Man’s Ruin Records expands on the idea…
stay tuned.
Gluecifer Grade: A The Hellacopters Grade: A White
Jazz Records Grade: A