Chainsaw Kittens

Pop Heiress (Atlantic)
by Scott Hefflon

“Now that everyone and their dog are getting harder, we decided to go the other way. I’ve always been really into bands that are melodic and emotional, like the New York Dolls and early Aerosmith,” says the chief songwriter/singer and ever quotable Tyson Meade. Notorious for cross-dressing, make up, and wild stage presence, Meade may have toned down a touch on attire, but not in approach. He still ODs on talk shows and bad TV and is conscious of instances when some nutcase wasting a dozen McDonald’s customers is dropped from the front page to make room for Madonna’s new book or a tasty government scandal. His penchant for gowns and glam (old style, not to be confused with confused puffy haired silly boys like old Crüe, Pretty Boy Floyd et all) has now shifted to a tighter grip on insightful lyrics and hurricane hard pop.

Joining the litter are bassist Matt Johnson and drummer Eric Harmon; with their influence, original members Tyson and guitarist Trent Bell breed a dozen diverse new songs for the upcoming release, Pop Heiress. Ranging from glitzy action-packed pop to moving acoustic jams, the recording flows and twists and curls up your lap purring (sorry, couldn’t resist).

Their EP, Angel on the Range, was a bit more wild. It had driving rock beats, noisy guitar fills tossed in liberally, screams and howls, meaty acoustic strumming, and poppy punky pogo playfulness. It had a goofy ditty, “Little Fishies,” that is a beautiful, useless little smile provoker reminiscent of old Beatles. Tunes recorded ’cause they were fun, with no intention of packaging it as a single and kicking it up the charts. The EP has its tender, touching moments too, with Meade’s voice quavering and fluttering into falsetto, rounding out the rollercoaster ride.

Their soon-to-be-released Pop Heiress has cleaner production (that’s a bonus of co-oping with a major like Atlantic) and ought to free them from the shackles of quaint pop novelty.