The Neatbeats

Mercurial… (Get Hip)
by Jon Sarre

Japanese people do really weird stuff sometimes. Y’know, they got all those vending machines for everything and sometimes school girls sell their day-of-the-week panties to businessmen and they invented Karaoke and don’t get me started on the Guitar Wolf movie… I haven’t seen it, but Dave from Scared Of Chaka said Senji throws magic throwing star guitar picks at aliens or somethin’ while Billy and the other guy stand back and comb their hair. That’s more of a humor thing, but it’s still weird, like The Neatbeats, too. They’re only weird cuz they make it their lives’ work to duplicate early ’60s teenybeat pop stuff like The Beatles and everyone else honed their chops on. If you’ve ever seen a b-movie from that era or watched a Bewitched rerun or somethin’, you can probably dredge up an approximation of The Neatbeats clean tinny guitars and Ringo fills. If that sorta thing interests you, you’d like these guys. I like how they make Chuck Berry’s “Reelin’ and Rockin'” into “Leerin’ and Lockin’.” It still makes sense that way.
(PO Box 666 Canonsburg, PA 15317)