Author: Sandi Sadar Šoba
Artist: Me First and The Gimme Gimmes
Label: Fat Wreck Chords
Release: 2006
It’s been a good while since my ears were regularly fed on the sounds of bouncy Cali punk, and one of the main staples back then was the headline attraction, NOFX. Quite some time has passed and those legends have become label owners, club owners, political activists and less and less active (performing) musicians. Still, it warms your heart when a record brimming with humor, musicality and nerve lands on the shelves from a band like Me First And Gimme Gimmes. Why? Because this time members of Lagwagon, Swinging Utters, No Use For A Name, NOFX and Foo Fighters are all squeezed under one roof. And who are the basic building blocks of punk pride? Behind the mic, Spike Slawson, singer of Swingin’ Utters, Re-Volts and Filthy Thievin’ Bastards, is doing the scary stuff; lead guitar is scraped by Foo Fighters man Chris Shiflett, who recently roared in No Use For A Name; Fat Mike Burkett, otherwise the central figure of NOFX, holds down the bass; and rhythm guitarist Joey Cape is hardly short on work either, earning his bread in Lagwagon, though you’ll also find him in Bad Astronauts, Afterburner and The Playing Favorites. The last piece of the lineup is the man in the background – Lagwagon drummer Dave Raun. They don’t pretend to be anything other than a punk cover band, and they’ve been playing covers since 1995, but you should know that nothing is sacred to them – not Cat Stevens, not Neil Diamond, not John Denver. All in the name of fun and pure goofing around!
And here’s the album …Love Their Country. For their sixth batch of conceptually chosen covers, the guys went for American cowboy music this time – country and western-soaked pop tunes, which remind you, from somewhere in the back corner of your brain, that listening to the stuff normally in the domain of Dixie Chicks, Garth Brooks, Johnny Cash and similar masters can be a lot less of a slog when it’s tackled by dudes who, not long before, wrecked Johnny’s Bar Mitzvah (the previous album had a pretty nice and prominent title, Ruin Johnny’s Bar Mitzvah …). So where’s the charm? Mostly in the phenomenal delivery of the lyrics and in adding balls where, until recently, there were precious few.
Right from the start the album goes after an American holy of holies, Garth Brooks and his song ‘Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)’, which, after a demented intro of spaced-out, sugary guitars, makes you think the punks have gone soft and turned into a sugar substitute, but fear not. Once they’ve saddled the horses and plonked the sleepy cowboys in the saddle, it’s time to gallop. The oozing ahs and ohs from Joey and Mike are a gorgeous garnish. The guitars turn into a circular saw, cutting through Garth’s holy relic. And how they pulled it off. Money – ruler of the world, or sheer audacity? Either way, I can just picture Garth Brooks with a baffled look on his face as troops of young, newfangled punks suddenly show up at his gigs.
And that’s only the beginning. Right after, they launch an assault on Johnny Cash and Stan Jones with ‘(Ghost) Riders In The Sky’, which leaves destruction, smoke and flames in a minute and a half. The punk version kills even the strongest doubts about the power of the original. After a few precisely measured punk cuts it’s not all that recognizable, but it gets you moving and having fun, which counts all the more. And then they prove that even in the new millennium they can make you laugh till you cry with a goofed-up, “hot-rodded” take on the Eagles classic ‘Desperado’, which sends die-hard Eagles fans into uncontrollable itching, allergic reactions and standing opposition, while sending hordes of punks, some of them a bit more fed up, into fits of laughter and high-octane fun. No need to raise middle fingers, except figuratively, in an even more penetrating musical sense.
Honestly, there’s not much to complain about, since the guys have kept alive certain tunes that would otherwise have been completely forgotten sooner or later. At least on this side of the pond it’s about cultivating a new crop of Americanophiles, and even George Bush might dance to these tunes, even though the guys torpedoed him into space with their arsenal from the Rock Against Bush compilation. The follow-up is in the manner of Willie Nelson – ‘On The Road Again’. Nothing special, unless you’re surprised by a riff that reminds you of something you’ve heard but can’t place. That could be the Misfits and the riff from ‘Astro Zombies’, which kicks in after some dreamy whipping of cream.
That it might be a gay porn soundtrack is just an illusion, because Me First, even dressed in rather loud cowboy shirts, somehow devoted themselves, in a whiny little ballad, to erecting a monument of their own to John Denver. ‘Annie’s Song’ is a pit stop. And then: full-blooded kerosene!
‘Jolene’ never sounded as lovely when performed by buxom country legend Dolly Parton as it does in the hands of a quintet of punk veterans. A bit older and maybe a little better off than at the start of the road, but they’re not letting anything throw them off! ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry’ is a bouncy drinking song dressed up in Scottish bagpipes, which could be the epilogue to a bad result for your national football team, or for your own football club sliding from the top division down to the tail end of the 3rd national league. A great metaphor for all the disappointed. Time for beer and tears!
‘Looking For Love’ doesn’t let you breathe. Time for promiscuity and mating, making excuses and all that jazz. As if this song had been written not by Johnny Lee but by some other Lee named Bruce. ‘Goodbye Earl’ breathes a whole new flame into the Dixie Chicks classic. And in a way that success won’t skip the Me First And The Gimme Gimmes camp either! The nearly reggae-ish middle section could have gone on a bit longer, and the guys could have landed a few more festivals. With more green and more smoke!
‘East Bound And Down’ brings back Burt Reynolds’ trucker romp and the chase down American highways. Smokey And The Bandit was a good film, and its mark on the list of influences on both sides of the pond is only fitting. Me First cover the original theme and do it admirably well. The wheels spin over the heated asphalt even faster this time. And we’re already heading for the finish. After dealing with plenty of well-known tunes, they angrily set about prettying up ‘She Believes in Me’, and then comes the big finale, a tribute to the recently departed hero of American culture, Johnny Cash, who has already popped up on the record a few times. What can you do? Some people left a little more behind than the competition during their years of work. And the cover is listenable, recognizable and given extra treatment in spots that were previously too smooth to stroke.
After a slim half hour of fun, the CD spins around and I let it keep playing. In the background the sun rises over the horizon and the cowboys have to saddle up again for new challenges and new showdowns, while in my ears the sound of tunes lingers that make it possible to get up without a caffeine fix or a cannon barrage. Fat Mike and company have once again proven they deserve the title of punk preservers of the past. They’ve staked country onto their Walk Of Fame with a mallet, and I’m only wondering what’s left untouched for them to tackle. Maybe a movie soundtrack album and an album of national anthems. This time, though, the result was an effortless, even pleasant trawl through the treasury of a redneck rampage soundtrack. Yeee-haaa!
Lineup
Spike – vocals
Jake – guitar
Fat Mike – bass
Joey – guitar
Dave – drums
Production
Alex Newport
Track List
1. Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old) – (Garth Brooks)
2. (Ghost) Riders In The Sky – (Stan Jones, Johnny Cash)
3. Desperado – (The Eagles)
4. On The Road Again – (Willie Nelson)
5. Annie’s Song – (John Denver)
6. Jolene – (Dolly Parton)
7. I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry – (Hank Williams Sr.)
8. Lookin’ For Love – (Johnny Lee)
9. Goodbye Earl – (Dixie Chicks)
10. East Bound And Down – (Jerry Reed)
11. She Believes In Me – (Kenny Rogers)
12. Sunday Morning Coming Down – (Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash)
ALBUM LENGTH: 25:33
