By Monk
Whatever the fuck happened to Saturday night television? I mean, it used to be fucking awesome. ‘The Dukes Of Hazzard’. ‘Wonder Woman’. ‘Starsky And Hutch’. ‘The A Team’. ‘The Six Million Dollar Man’. Appetisers for ‘Convoy’ or ‘Smokey And The Bandit’ as the feature movie. Those were the days. Piles of shite, each and every single one of them. But the sort of shite you enjoyed rolling in and coming up smiling afterwards. Now confined to the darkest recesses of cable television, it’s the sort of shite that the three guys from Minneapolis who make up Speedbilly grew up on.
Well, it’s been quite a while since Speedbilly roared their way on to ÜRHQ’s death decks – nigh on a year-and-a-half year, if memory serves me correct, which is around when they unleashed their adrenaline- and moonshine-fuelled second EP ‘Hillbilly Speed Freak’. And, by all accounts, its been an interesting 18 months, with frontman Jimmy Allen Moore apparently having had a close encounter with aliens during a visit to Area 51 and relative NKOTB Brian Gordon similarly having had a run in with the law and spending a “less rapey than I expected” period in a backwoods Alabama jail… but, now they’re back, sippin’ ‘shine and raisin’ hell good ol’ boy style with their third four track EP…
Now, it has to be said that this ‘ere latest offering has been kickin’ arse for quite some time, but due to various complications, such as a certain beerbug gripping the Überverse, it has taken some time for this little shiny disc to wing its way across the mighty Atlantic Ocean – well, Jimmy Allen did attach it to a carrier pigeon – and on to the deathdecks here at ÜRHQ… but, as with both of their previous releases, it has been worth the wait.
‘Raise Hell…’ is another insane collection of fast ‘n’ furious cowbilly-infused punk ‘n’ roll party anthems for the drunk generation… I don’t know who the fuck Dale is, or was, but to be honest, I don’t give a flying one, ’cos I’m doin’ it for him anyway, as we ‘Drop The Hammer’, with the pedal floored and roar ingloriously down the highway to oblivion. ‘Meth Gators’ is a riotous warning as to the consequences of pouring certain substances down the drain, especially in the backwoods of the Bayou, before Jimmy Allen rounds things off by telling those darn aliens exactly how far he’s gonna stick his pipe up the exhaust of their UFO…
With it’s four tracks clocking it at just slightly more than ten minutes, ‘Raise Hell…’ is a short, sharp punk ‘n’ roll shot of adrenaline. It has proved to be a bit too anarchic and raw for some critics, who have failed to get the sense of fun and anarchic, tongue-in-cheek, controlled chaos that lies at the heart of Speedbilly… but, at the end of the day, there’s only one thing that matters, and that is if it makes me hit the repeat button… and that beggars a question: can you send me another CD guys? ‘Cos I’ve worn this one out!
- ‘Raise Hell, Praise Dale!’ is out now. You can get your copy HERE.
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