October’s Beard of the Month is a familiar one, belonging to Black Tusk bassist Jonathon Athon, who also received some end-of-the-year kudos in 2010 for his fire-branded, foot-and-a-half facial fashion statement. Athon’s beard is grade A ginger greatness, and nearly a year later it still boasts an unbridled barbarianism that’d make Erik the Red jealous if he were alive today. You know that iconic image of Superman standing on top of a skyscraper, his cape blowing in the wind a tell-tale sign of his heroic awesomeness? That’s how I like to think of Athon, only instead of a skyscraper it’s a mountain and instead of a cape it’s his beard.
And a worthy nod to the hairy fellows in The Shrine, seen here posing with an elder beard named Chief. I don’t know who Chief is or what his story might be, but you can bet it’s a good one judging by his beard. And so The Shrine, taking their beard, beer, and cigarette cue from Chief, are well on their way to becoming a proud bunch of drunk Gandalfs too!
Michael Monroe Sensory Overdrive
Universal/Spinefarm
Without getting bogged down by the finer points of the multi-page CV that details the history, talent, and accomplishments of each one of the members that make up Michael Monroe’s new super-backing band, it can be said that the Hanoi Rocks frontman has never surrounded himself with such an awesome cast in his entire solo career. With Sammi Yaffa (Hanoi Rocks) on bass, Ginger (The Wildhearts) and Steve Conte (New York Dolls) on guitar, and Karl Rockfist on drums, Monroe has taken care to assemble an ensemble that thrives on friendship, familiarity, tradition, energy, pedigree, and musicianship, and the music reflects that enriched bounty in big, bold ways. Without sacrificing his signature style, which usually involves plenty of harmonica and sax, Monroe ratchets up the power well past pretty pleasure, making Sensory Overdrive a cannon shot of sleaze n’ roll that’s equal parts sparkly pop and heavy punk rock fury. There’s no doubt that Ginger’s sticky fingerprints are all over this one, his hook-ladened influence practically dripping off every riff and chorus like pomegrante syrup laced with arsenic, but it’s the band’s chemistry, punctuated by Monroe’s familiar Norwegian rasp, that pushes this one into the red. Sensory Overdrive is full of so many eyelined hits it’ll make your head spin, and while it does an amazing job of playing to your old school sensibilities, it also stands up as compellingly current. Oh, and bonus points (as if it needed any) for bringing in Lucinda Williams (“Gone Baby Gone”) and Lemmy (“Debauchery as a Fine Art”) to help make this album even more special.
Check out the video for “’78″ from Sensory Overdrive!
I avoided — on purpose, mind you — Against Me! for a long time. It seemed like everyone around me, from out-of-touch radio disc jockeys to bratty teenagers with shitty haircuts, were sucking on the post-punk teet, swallowing the sour milk pablum like spoiled babies. The next thing you knew, tattoos were fucking mainstream and I was one hundred and eighty-seven years old. Or that’s how I felt, anyway. I wasn’t clicking, as it were, with the music of the new generation. That was around 2005 or so, and Against Me!’s popularity was hitting full stride with the release of their third full-length, Searching for a Former Clarity, and long forgotten were their days as folksy, raw, acoustic, eternal Floridian cowboys reinventing Axl Rose. Then came 2007′s New Wave and there was no doubt about their impact; the kids had found their modern day hero in Tom Gabel, a socially conscious front man who could write ridiculously catchy punk songs and lyrics with prominent, relevant staying power. So it wasn’t that I didn’t like Against Me!, it’s just that I really couldn’t get into Against Me! because to do so meant having to admit that being uncontrollably popular doesn’t mean you are complete shit. Yeah, I know, hard to believe, eh?
Michael Monroe
Against Me!