Bad Mother Seed

with Love/Hate at The Rat
by Joe Hacking

I endured the Earth’s-core temperatures of the Rat with my companions Heavy Metal Mari and Tanya the Elven Princess to see these two bands. It was worth it.

Bad Mother Seed were the local boys. Revitalized after soaking up the air conditioning upstairs, we went downstairs into the cellar of the Rat and found Bad Mother Seed’s heavy attitude blasting off the stage. While I found some of their compositions rather repetitive, these guys have got a nice wall-of-guitar sound. The singer is a cross between Joey Ramone, Howard Stern, and Ozzy Osbourne (circa Vol. 4). The combined sound was pleasing to those who appreciate good, heavy attitude music, and yet they seemed like they were holding back. The way their songs are structured, it’s kinda like they’re on a long trip down the highway and they’ve been drinking. Just when they get rolling, they stop and break up their rhythm. These guys have severe rip potential, they just have to nurture it.

The big national act was Love/Hate. By contrast, their rhythms were staggered but lively. Singer Jizzy Pearl had that pierced and tattooed attitude. He dropped quite a few gallons of sweat for the cause. The rest of the band kept it tight and heavy, playing fiercely as the small but fanatical crowd sang along.

There’s a tribal feel to Love/Hate’s sound. Drummer Joey Gold is always hammering the downbeat, invoking an Irish jig-type of sound. Guitarist Jon E. Love’s piercing, washed-out distortion sound slashed through bang of drum and burping of Skid’s bass like a phased, sonic beam. The singer sounded and looked like a primitive as he gyrated and paced about the stage. Halfway through the set they got into the groove, especially during “Loser.” Their new album’s title track, “Let’s Rumble” (Caliber Records) was very rowdy, with a big guitar lead and interesting rhythms. “Spinning Wheel” showed off the band’s heavy low end, in a chunky stripper tune.