The Smears
The Smears in the Garage (Dionysus)
by Duke Crevenator
An all-girl trio hailing from beautiful downtown Bloomington, Indiana, bring the sounds of classic ’60s garage music into the ’90s in truly impressive form. Unlike many bands, The Smears don’t try to sound “influenced” by this genre of music. It sounds like they recorded this disc 30 years ago, which I think is pretty damn bad-ass. The vocals on most songs are gritty, tough, and devoid (thank God) of the sappy, sugar-coated cliché crooning I hear so often on supposed “punk” albums these days.
The first song, “What a Way to Die,” rolled out of the speakers with that reverbed-out guitar à la the Kingsmen or the Troggs (speaking of them, there’s also a great cover of the classic “Wild Thing”) that immediately made me sit up and take notice. From that track, the disc just keeps getting better – these girls are for real! The third track, “Cum in My Mouth,” wins my pick for the best tune, not only for the hysterical lyrics, but for its music as well. After my first entire listen, I immediately played it again, only this time I got stoned, and I must admit, this album is very pot-friendly. It was when I threw it in my five disc shuffle with my Beach Boys and Jan & Dean albums when I truly was able to appreciate the excellent production that went into keeping this record true to its musical style.
Although the sometimes risque lyrics give away the decade it was actually recorded, that’s exactly why I prefer it to most of the bands from that era.
Since I’ve been fortunate enough to see The Smears live a few times (when they toured with The Queers and The Meatmen), let me tell ya that these three girls kick some ass on stage too. At their live shows, their music takes on a much punker edge with lots more distortion and a much faster tempo (like the Ramones, in a way). This surprised me because, to be honest, I have mostly been disappointed with live performances by all-girl bands (with the exception of the Lunachicks and maybe a couple of others). The Smears have attitude, and they’re not afraid to show it, but hey, if you’re playing with The Meatmen you probably have to, don’t ya? My efforts to reach The Smears were unsuccessful, so I’m not sure when they’re touring again, but I’m confident we’ll have ’em back in the Boston area soon, so keep yer eyes peeled and go see for yourself.
The album was released by Dionysus Records out of Burbank, California, which carries many other bands with this style of music. Although the artwork on the sleeve left a little to be desired, I think I’ve made it clear that the music more than makes up for this shortcoming. Some other great new releases I highly recommend are The Meatmen/Boris the Sprinkler split single on Bulge Records and the great redneck punk band from Georgia, Hellstomper’s debut single on Hardline Records. In fact, I’m gonna listen to ’em right now because I’m hung over and need to get pissed… Live Free or Die.
