Mad Caddies
Just One More (Fat)
by Ewan Wadharmi
More than drinking music, this is the soundtrack to a bender. While some like their music straight-up, Mad Caddies have snuck behind the bar and mixed all sort of odd concoctions from the dusty bottles. The more successful experiments are the daring exotic combinations of Jamaican rum ignited over bourbon. Without that element, there’s a strange reliance on ’80s blues metal that leaves a hair spray aftertaste in the MGD. The underagers are served a club soda and Green Day. The energy is right on the mark, the arrangements and the musicianship are enviably above average. Chuck’s vocals are versatile, sometimes nicely croaking, other times wimpy or out-dated, then smooth and soulful.
The speakeasy blues of “Last Breath” is more authentic than Souxie’s “Peakaboo,” and the bathtub gin will have you tearing up the streets. The blue-eyed soul “Spare Change?” has a sleepy drunken grin from under the table yearning for Squeeze’s “Black Coffee.” Op Ivy pops up for the bouncy “10 West.” Perhaps the first country-tinged ska since The Specials’ “Ghost Town.” The blues rock ballad “Good Intentions” is paved with the sound that brought down the house for the late Great White. The jumpy progression on “Wet Dog” is similarly geared to hard rock chicks with jiffy-pop hair, green eye shadow, and Slippery When Wet shirts. Some redemption comes with the return to the ska-rock-ska formula in “Game Show.”
Yeah, you’ve tried all the liquors on the shelf and can’t walk out. But how are you going to feel tomorrow? Bands like Ozomatli and Primitive Reason may be more consistent blending styles and making you enjoy music outside your comfort zone. But Mad Caddies are a happy drunk in whatever mood they explore. They wow you enough with the weird buzz that you’ll allow them their cheesy indulgences.
(PO Box 193690 San Francisco, CA 94119)