antiReviews:
New
American Shame
Review by Michael
Lohr
New
American Shame
Label: Lava/Atlantic
Rating:
Tracks: Under It All
Brokent Bones
What's It To You
American Shame
Down In The Valley
Rather Be Rich
Skin Up
Somethin' Right
Sex Teen
Lesson In Cool
Auburn
Doghouse
The return of the “Gods of Air Guitar”
is what first comes to mind with the debut record from New American Shame.
Hailing from Seattle, they have little in common with their punter, stare
at the ground counterparts, that also hail from that city. They have more
in common with Bon Scott era AC/DC, the Cult, very early Black Crowes or
the Sex Pistols. New American Shame ARE the sound of lethal, uncompromising
hard driving rock ‘n roll! To be blunt, they kick the shit out of all the
wannabe’s like Buckcherry and American Pearl and even put Kid Rock in his
place.
Do yourself a favor, if you want to spring
from your seat and let loose all that pent-up aggression, then go right
now and buy this killer record. Forget every recommendation that
I have made in this column to date. This is the band with the balls heavy
enough to rock the new millennium.
The band consists of Geoff Reading - Drums,
Kelly Wheeler - Bass, Terry Bratsch - Guitar, Jimmy Paulson - Guitar and
the singer Johnny (yes, he only goes by his first name). Simply, what they
do is write songs that make, no, force you to move off your ass and shake
like a Pentecostal snake kisser.
Recorded at Uptone Studios in Tacoma, Washington
and Studio X, in Seattle and released in the States in 1999, I will say
without a doubt, this is one of the best rock records in the last five
years. With songs like “American Shame”, “Broken Bones”, “Down In The Valley”,
“Skin Up” and “Auburn” this CD burns from beginning to end.
Enough words, now go get this record and
get your air guitar groove on.
· Michael Lohr
