- - -
DEVIL PARTY ANTHEMS, INC. :
WE ARE THE PARTY
- - -
DEVIL PARTY ANTHEMS, INC. :
WE ARE THE PARTY
On the flip side of the coin, Skid (aka Chris Rose), who was Love/Hate's bassist, songwriter, and driving force, dropped out of the music scene all together. Skid went through some turbulent times, but came out on top with a new, revamped life. The former rocker (known for occasionally humping a cross made of Budweiser beer cans across the stage) is now a respected family man with a "real" job, a wife (who isn't exactly hard on the eyes), and two daughters. But, as they say, you can take the man out of the band, but you can't take the music out of the man. Something was lurking within Skid's psyche, the long dormant urge to write new music was slowly rising to the surface. In February of '05, Skid released a new song on lovehate.com that he had written for his wife Karen. The song was a mid-paced balled entitled "Star In The Sun". It was a good song, not mind-blowing or anything, but good. The most interesting thing about the song however, was that it marked the reunion of Skid, Jon E. Love (original Love/Hate guitarist), and Joey Gold (original Love/Hate drummer). This was the first indication that something special might happen. Unfortunately, Jizzy didn't sing on the song, but Mark Hollis, who sang with the band back before the Black Out days, stepped in outta nowhere and did the vox. So in essence, the original band was back together ...sort of.
So, one thing leads to another, and Skid decides he has another album's worth of songs in him, he reveals plans to write a new Love/Hate album based on the fun side of debauchery, to be entitled "Devil Party Anthems". Joey and Jon were on board with the plan, but for whatever reason, Jizzy declines to sing on the album. Skid, thinking that without Jizz, it would not truly be Love/Hate, decides to form a new band, incorporating the planned album title into their new moniker. A vocalist is found in Jack (ex- Lucky Devil), a dozen tunes are written, and after five months, and five rounds of web-released demos, we now have the finished product in hand. Well, that is to say some of us do. You see, Skid is still trying to put this disc out on a "real" label, but in an unprecedented move of generosity, Skid had a batch of professional discs made up, and mailed them out free off charge to every board member at devilpartyanthemsinc.com! So basically, if you don't already have your hands on a copy, you're gonna have to wait.
So finally, let's talk about the disc shall we? Out of the dozen tunes demoed, eleven have made it to the final product. Left behind was the song "Fly To The Funky Woman", or "Fly To The Skunky Woman" as it was named at one point. I'm not sure why this one failed to make the cut, as I thought it was pretty cool. Anyway, the songs on "We Are The Party" have a constant theme running through them. Namely, the theme of "partying", and all its smaller components such as sex, drinking, smoking, etc. There are no love songs, no political shit, and no calls to change the world for the better. This disc is about having fun – period! And fun it is my friends! Now, the first question all will ask is, "does it sound like Love/Hate"? The short answer is no, the long answer is no ...with a "but". No, this doesn't sound like Black Out, nor does it sound anything like Rumble, but it still manages to rock, and it has Skids signature crazy song writing all over it! There are also many modern influences floating around here. There are some semi, almost techno-ish, Industrial elements for example. Not that it sounds like a Ministry CD or anything, but I bet Skid has some White Zombie stuff in his personal collection. Hell, the main riff during the song "Four Times" actually reminds me of Prong! The vocals from Jack suit the music well, and truth be told, he has a not too dissimilar style of singing from the Jizz man. Jizzy's vocals are much more raspy, whereas Jack's are a bit smoother. A note regarding Jack, on the DPA website, Skid states that Jack is the same person who sang on Star In The Sun, but previously on the LH website, Skid told us the singer on Star In The Sun was Mark. So, either someone was drunk while updating one of the sites, or Mark and Jack are one and the same person. Now, do I miss Jizzy? Sure, I won't lie, I'd give a left nut to see the original four record again. Ok, maybe not my nut, but I'd be willing to chop off someone's. However, after spinning this disc, many, many, many times, I can honestly say that I don't really miss the Jizzster as much as I thought I would. Now that Skid and Jizzy have released separate discs at virtually the same time, we can really see the difference in song writing styles. Jizzy's Vegas Must Die is filled with what I'd call, straight ahead rock songs. That's not to say good or bad, that's just the style. On the other hand, Skid's disc is filled with odd, delightfully quirky tunes that only a madman could pen. I'll tell you, when Skid first released some rough demos for these songs, I wasn't too sure they were gonna work. They just seemed so odd. But Skid had his twisted vision in his head, he knew the finished product would work, and he was right. This bizarre song writing of Skid's has always been both Love/Hate's strength, and its weakness. Take a song like "Happy Hour" from Wasted for example, the LH fans loved it for its innate weirdness, but it's that same weirdness that kept the general public (aka the "sheep") from catching on. So, if you've always loved Skid's odd ditties that just seem to spring from leftfield, well then you'll find lots to love here. If you're looking for 80s hair-metal, or straightforward hard rock, this isn't it. Personally, I love this, it turned out better than expected, and I can't stop playing the thing! That wouldn't be so bad, but when you need to go through a dozen new releases each week, it becomes a bit of a time-management problem.
RATING = 8.5 Industrial Party Rock/Metal (Released 2005)
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U/V
W-Z
SOUNDTRACKS
GOT A PROBLEM WITH ONE OF MY CD REVIEWS?
DO YOU AGREE WITH ME?
THEN GO TO THE
- - -
"Greatest hits albums are for housewives and little girls."
-Bruce McCulloch K.I.T.H. '91
IF YOU THINK MY CD REVIEWS SUCK, CLICK HERE!
Get your own Free Home Page