Stiffs, Inc. – Nix Nought Nothing – Review

Stiffs, Inc.

Nix Nought Nothing (American)
by Jeff Fritz

Take a moment and conjure up what you would expect a band named Stiffs, Inc. to sound like. Or look like. Or think like. Where do you think they come from? I can’t answer ’cause I forgot to get their bio shit when I picked up the release. So fire up those cable TV-stunned imaginations, kids. We’ll have to perceive them through only their music.

The first thing I hear is some very up-tempo pop punk. It’s catchy. I don’t want to think that it’s a recording for people who dig Green Day, but it’s kinda hard not to. The singer twists your ear in a way almost identical (clone-like?) to Johnny Lydon’s nasal rantings. The guitars a little under-mixed and being beaten upon severely by either one or a gang of distortionless string pounders. The drums jump and jerk in spastic rhythms from song to song. I’m still not sure how many musicians are playing, but they’re very tight.

When I come back later to listen to the disc, I find the CD has shit the bed, demagnetized, what the fuck ever. It don’t work no more. The boombox makes strange digital cooing noises and flashes hyphens at me. Dammit. I liked this disc. It had cool titles like “Generation Crap” and “Die Mother Die.” It made me want to play air guitar loudly and make insolent, snotty faces.