New Bomb Turks
At Rope’s End (Epitaph)
by Jon Sarre
Any band who credits Cheater Slick Tom Shannon as “guidance counselor” in the liner notes of their record clearly has one foot on the precipice of greatness and the other foot teeterin’ on the edge of the proverbial wagon we all fall off every once in a while. That’s to say Columbus, Ohio trash-punkers turned Epitaph heroes New Bomb Turks continue to have their hearts and minds (and probably bleeding ulcers) in the right places, or to quote singer Eric Davidson’s rhetorical question, “Have you had your fill of cool?” Yeah, At Rope’s End is a smoker, onea those set-fire-to-the-turntable-(sorry, disc player)-and-try-to-douse-it-with-151-and-bacon-grease,-just-to-see-what-happens, cuz, goddamnit! the “Minimum Wages of Sin” (onea the blisterin’ punk rock vignettes on this record, complete with a Stooges and a Stones reference in the lyrics) is sure as hell more attractive than anything else I can dredge up at the moment.
(2798 Sunset Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90026)