Thing of the Day
400 Blows
August
25th 2011
Los
Angeles alternative hardcore-flavoured three piece 400 Blows are back
to treat you as their punchbag once more: six years on from their last
album, so do they still cut it?
400 BLOWS – Sickness And Health (Org Music) - Interesting
name for a record label that, sure we’ve heard it somewhere before
haven’t we? Not us guv, another label did it, mind you, wouldn’t have
minded this being out on Org if we was to be still doing that kind of
‘fing.
400 Blows then; four hundred blows all landing at
once, relentless set of pounding blows delivered with clever dexterity
and a whole lot of colourfully aggressive style. Six years on from
their last album Angel’s Trumpets and Devil’s Trombones the compact Los
Angeles band are back. They’re claiming they never went away anyway,
all tarred and feathered but they stuck together... Complicated yet
direct and to the point, killer rhythm section controlling the musical
space with ominous colour, clever band, mathy tendencies in their
hardcore flavoured 90’s alt rock - they have personality, they have a
presence, a great big instantly recognisable finger print, a precise
slice of positive aggression, pin-point confrontation, clean cut
onslaught of short sharp musical punches, round after round,
relentless, blow after blow.
The spirit of bands like Helmet, Circle
Jerks, Butthole Surfers, maybe a hint of the more aggressive side of
Jane’s Addiction, those bands from a time where rock made a last
serious stand. 400 Blows deal in big beats, they deal in musical power,
the distinctive voice of singer Skot Alexander (with his touch of
Jello), the revving engine of guitar coming from Scott Martin, and the
always pointed jabbing punching drums of Kevin Fitzgerald; 400 Blows
have a way of their own, a menace... Sickness and Health is an album that
more than illustrates why we need bands like this.
For more information, visit:
www.400Blows.net
www.orgmusic.com
Here they are performing live on KXLU 88.9 FM Los Angeles:
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