The Eggnogs
Hot Caulk
Poopsicle Records
Hot Caulk, the fifth self-released EP from The Eggnogs, is one damn retarded piece of work. Other EP titles include, Poo... and Oh, By The Way, I'm A Lesbian, so acting retarded is nothing new for this three-piece from Cedar Rapids. If stupid punk rock of the Butthole Surfers variety is your thing, these guys will cheese it up just right.
Production? We don't need no stinking production! This sounds like it was recorded in a basement on a Tascam four-track recorder--and that's about all you need to capture the rude, obsessive nature of these songs. Add in the megaphone effects that propel the vocals and you've got a recipe for hilarity.
Before dismissing The Eggnogs (and it's easy to do, with their homemade photocopied CD sleeves), take a listen to the songwriting: "Hot Caulk" and "Into the Gay" could be Ween songs, and "Snap-On, Strap-On" is something straight out of the Mentors catalog. Hot Caulk isn't subtle by any stretch of the imagination, but it rocks with an infectious silliness that only youth can provide. The Eggnogs' press compares their live shows to those of The New Duncan Imperials, but these guys cross lines that haven't been crossed by Chicago's goof-rock stalwarts for a decade or more.
It's a juvenile and funny party record. Cap'n Spooty, j-sun, and Samb know how to put together a rock song (which implies a certain level of, dare I say, maturity?), and if you think that you'll like it, you'll love it. Every suburb has a garage band with this mentality ("Snap-on, show me that you love me!"), but you still have to bring the bounces. The riff-heavy sound of The Eggnogs keeps the party going--until your parents come home and find the house trashed and tire tracks all over the front lawn. When the record label is Poopsicle, this is what you get.
--William Fare
-from the ICON, co-dependent weekly news for IC & CR, October 5, 2000 |
