Spiders
Spiders 10″ EP
Crusher Records

Spiders are a neat little rock n’ roll outfit hailing from Gothenburg, Sweden, featuring John Hoyles of Witchcraft and Axel Sjöberg of Graveyard (although at the time of this review he’s no longer in the band), but starring the foxy Ann-Sofie Hoyles as lead scream Queen, and I’ve waited on writing about them because it seems every time I sit down to do so they put out another single. Indeed, it all started back in January when Spiders released this here four-song EP on regular vinyl and picture disc, and given the aforementioned members penchant for the retro sound, this one definitely stinks of drugs and fuzz, but it also takes on much more of a sonic sexiness, no doubt due to Ann-Sofie’s tempting wiles. You might think a band like Spiders would come off sounding like Blood Ceremony or The Devil’s Blood given the dynamics, but they’re more dirty denim and sweaty leather than black robes and incense, and fall in line with the likes of the American electric dealers of the 60s and 70s, like Fred “Sonic” Smith jamming with Grace Slick. Spiders are a don’t-drink-what’s-in-the-red-cup kind of party, a backseat education for dark minds and idle hands. Anyway, Spiders then took this four-song EP and cut it in half, releasing two separate 7″ singles in the US in March, High Society b/w Gracious Man (Kemado Records) and Nothing Like You b/w Long Gone (Valley King Records). If that wasn’t enough, they then released another 7″ single in August on De:Nihil Records, featuring the brand new song “Fraction” and a cover of Alice Cooper’s “Under My Wheels.” We can now only hope a full-length is on its way. In the meantime, I’m gonna go drink what’s in the red cup and rock the fuck out.

I know this song isn’t on the self-titled EP, but videos are fun, so check out the video for “Fraction”!

“I know my name is pain.”

“You ever heard the story of Mr. Faded Glory?”

You know, music isn’t always about bushy beards and big, bad riffs, as much as I make it out to be.  I mean, those things are great, and generally essential, but sometimes I enjoy — as I’m sure we all do — the deep, personal, and emotional connection with music as well. No other music I’ve ever heard (save for maybe Jeff Buckley) affects me as emotionally as Andrew Wood’s does.

Wood, an early purveyor of Seattle’s grunge rock scene and undoubtedly its biggest personality, died in March of 1990 from complications of a drug overdose at the age of 24, just as his band, Mother Love Bone, was about to release their debut full-length, Apple, and have a profound influence on a scene that would blow up into an industry and change the musical landscape in the decade that followed. But this story, a 10-year project for director Scot Barbour, tells of Wood’s years before his death, and shows us a man many of us never knew existed. Wood grew up in an abusive, dysfunctional household and used humor, drugs, and his alter ego, Landrew the Lovechild, to cover up the pain. His penchant for being the center of attention manifested itself in Landrew, the ghost-faced entity and lead singer of Wood’s first band, Malfunkshun, who would come down from Olympus to preach love rock to the people. His love rock was truly something special.

Malfunkshun, set against the backdrop of an emerging Seattle scene that included bands like Malfunkshun, Soundgarden, Green River, the Melvins, U-Men, and Skin Yard, features interviews with friends, family, band mates, industry heads, and even Wood’s rehab therapist, includes lots of old photos and rare live footage of Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone, incorporates colourful animated sequences that turns Wood’s life and music into a seemingly appropriate abstract kaleidoscope, and plenty of footage of Wood himself, including an interview in his room — dubbed Landrew’s Lovenest — where he’s clutching a stuffed toy frog, as if it was his childhood innocence, and hamming it up. Malfunkshun also comes with two bonus audio discs, Malfunkshun’s Return to Olympus and Melodies and Dreams, a solo album of material — music and interviews with himself — recorded to tape in the Lovenest. This disc alone, which also includes a rare song recorded by Chris Cornell and Wood when they lived together, is worth your money.

Truthfully, I wasn’t old enough to appreciate Wood’s impact at the time, but I’ve since come to revel in his music and appreciate his legacy. This film allows me the ability to feel and understand what it was like for him and the scene he helped create back then, and I come out of it a bigger fan of love rock than ever before.

Check out the trailer for Malfunkshun: The Andrew Wood Story!

Gentlemans Pistols
At Her Majesty’s Pleasure
Rise Above

The Gentlemans Pistols are stone cold rollers steeped thigh-high in the foggy bluster of ’72′s hullabaloo who, now four years removed from their self-titled full-length debut, have forged a grin-and-lick-it campaign aimed at monopolizing the gold-dusted, classic rock racket. This enterprise, known simply as At Her Majesty’s Request, is uproariously glorious, and you don’t so much as listen to it as you do walk into its dark and musty den and stare at all the trophy riffs mounted on the wall like 10 point bucks. The UK band’s powerful, hook-filled bombast has picked up a certain amount of intensity in the last few years, which is no doubt due to the addition of guitarist Bill Steer (of Carcass, Napalm Death, and Firebird fame), who joined the group in 2009 and has brought a ferocious emphasis to the Gentlemans’ twin guitar attack (bolstered on the other side by vocalist/guitarist James Atkinson), the likes of which I haven’t heard since I last listened to Pride Tiger or Tricky Woo. What I’m getting at here is that they slay it, plain and simple, and despite the fact that they leave behind a whole pile of incriminating evidence tying them to a conspiracy involving Cactus, Deep Purple, Captain Beyond, Thin Lizzy, and BANG (and, most certainly, booze, drugs, women, and Satan), they’re too good to get caught, and live to rock and flaunt the gaoler all night long.

Listen to “I Wouldn’t Let You” from At Her Majesty’s Pleasure!