The Ziggens

(Cornerstone R.A.S.)
by Ewan Wadharmi

You got one guy named Dickie who looks like but doesn’t sound like the Bosstones’ Dickie. Then there’s a dead ringer for Buddy Hackett (no pun intended, R.I.P.). The impersonations go on in the music as well. “Debutante” is a mildly funny rip-off of Green Day’s “Basket Case,” while “Just the Way You Aren’t” brings back ’70s gubble-bummers Bay City Rollers. “Pistol Pete” is a weepy tribute to NBA legend Pete Maravich. More tragic than Pete’s demise is this hippie Spin Doctors send-up. “Rincon” is an after-surf sunbathing tune as interesting as watching Endless Summer. Every other song or so, The Ziggens show a sense of humor that never gets fleshed out. Like a Saturday Night Live sketch, “I Get Yelled at a Lot” starts with a promising premise that goes nowhere. Same song, second verse for “Plastic Surgery.” The exception is the big image of “The Man With the Pushed in Face,” which has more humor than just the title, “My sister finds him handsome in a Kojak sort of way/He’s sleepy and he’s haggard/like that chick in ‘Maggie May’.” But the “Rock Lobster” riff is gimmicky.

When The Ziggens aren’t trying to be All goofy, they occasionally give something sweet (“See You Now”) or a thoughtful perspective (“Not So Much”). But then they crank out a wussy Weezer prom song (“Beat to Pieces”). The country ballad “That Kind of Man” is ballsy as all hell to pull off. Hats off for that, even though much of the story is cut out and left to the imagination. It’s either really personal, or a parable. The surf instrumental “I Fought the Lawn” has already been worked into my vocabulary. Half “Walk Don’t Run” and half “Blind Man Stood By The Road.” I could do with more rockers like the rousing “Temptation,” the story of Christ in the desert. Sounds like Violent Femmes on holy water, what with the marimbas and whatnot.
(2691 Dow Ave. #C-2 Tustin, CA 92780)