Back in April 2010, I headed overseas to go on tour with punk rock n roller, Simon Chainsaw, as he tore around Europe in support of his new CD, Eight Times Lucky released on Kicking Records. It was a wild ride of ups and downs, good times and bad (but not bad enough that I wouldn’t do it again in a heartbeat) and general rock n roll fun. The tour went through France, Switzerland and Spain and I met a lot of wonderful people and, of course, bought some amazing records that I had found while scouring through the used stores. Good times!
While we were in Montessa, Spain, we stayed at this recording studio as the Simon Chainsaw band recorded 4 new tunes. When Simon told me he wanted to record a cover of one of my very own tunes, I was pretty taken aback. I mean, being told a song you wrote is great is a nice compliment but being told you have a song that people connect with enough to want to cover it, that’s like a huge ego boost. But I digress…
Today, the new single from Simon Chainsaw arrived on my doorstep. I was glad to see the record in its finished form. I took the clear vinyl record out, put the needle on the record and cranked it up. These 4 songs, to put it mildly, kick ass! Starting off with ‘She Was Zen’, I remember Simon writing this at any given opportunity where he had 5 minutes to himself to put it together and personally, I found it the strongest song of the bunch. Nasty Samy’s signature guitar work and harmony lines just add that special something to make this song stick. This should be played on radio stations everywhere.
The next tune was the cover of Muscle Car’s ‘Not The Kind Of Attitude’ and what Simon and Co. have done with this song is awesome and gets my tick of approval. The band has added something else to the mix and comes off sounding stronger than the original. Whilst hearing someone else sing a song that was a true story in my life, Simon does it justice and delivers it exactly how I would want one of my own songs covered. Top notch!
Side B dishes up another original titled ‘Midwife Crisis’, a title that I am surprised I had never come up with already. Classic! While not as straight up catchy as ‘She Was Zen’, it still packs a punch of punk rock angst proving once again that Simon’s songwriting can be whatever it wants and still remain within the SC framework that he has built for himself.
The last tune on the EP is a cover of the Goo Goo Dolls early quickie, ‘Laughing’. I remember when the decision for this record was made. We were sitting around the Kicking Records office and we were flicking through their records and the GGD’s ‘Hold Me Up’ LP was in there. We took it out and cranked it up as we were mostly all in agreeance that the GGD’s wrote some kick ass power pop punky tunes. From the moment the song played, we were all like “fuck yeah, this song kicks ass!” and the 2nd cover tune for this EP was chosen. Hearing it now, it sounds great! Simon hasn’t tried to mimic the voice of Robby Takac, instead, just doing what he does and kicking out the jams. Not a bad effort at all. A great cover of a classic Dolls song.
Four On The Floor is pressed on clear vinyl and limited to 300 hand numbered copies. I suggest you get your hands on this one quick cos once it’s gone, that’s it. Order now from www.simonchainsaw.com or through www.kickingrecords.com
I hadn’t received a release from Boomtown in ages. I gathered they were pissed over the review I gave of the Copeland album they released, but alas, here on my desk is the newie from Brisbane’s own The Amity Affliction. As soon as I saw this I knew what I was gonna get: Screamo, Emo or both. Well, funny that, I was right. Geez, I am quite the psychic these days! ANYWAY, I plonked the disc into the player and started it up. Within seconds the pro-tools laden barrage of metal jumped out at me with heavy riffs and screaming vocals interspersed with melodic harmonies and guitar licks. I was so expecting to throw this at the wall and think “meh, rubbish” but you know what, it grew on me. As the disc went from track to track, I enjoyed it more and more. Which is weird for me cos I so don’t usually listen to these sorts of bands… ok, that’s a lie, I have been caught listening to the likes of Killswitch Engage. Actually, to be honest, I own all their albums but that’s besides the point. Granted, this album isn’t gonna make me grow a crap fringe, wear a grey hoodie and get sleeve tattoos with Vegan done across my neck any time soon but I will happily spin this album quite a few times in the coming weeks. Hell, I span it like 5 times today.
