The Hellacopters
By the Grace of God (Liquor and Poker)
by Brian Varney
Classic rock. Those are the two words that will come up at some point in any discussion of this band or this album, so you might as well decide right now how you feel about those words. Do you think of your fat, skullet-clad uncle yelling “Free Bird” and laugh? Do you cringe when “The Boys Are Back in Town” or “Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo” or “Slow Ride” or “Sweet Emotion” come on the radio? If so, stop reading right now.
It is this type of music, songs of a similar timeless quality, which The Hellacopters now write and record. What separates them from the hordes of doofuses like Jet, what makes them the best rock ‘n’ roll band in the world, is the way they’re able to harness the spirit and beauty of the best classic rock and write songs that are able to hold their own alongside the original greats without sounding like a Sha-Na-Na type nostalgia exercise or, indeed, being beholden to any era. These songs could’ve been written in any of the past four decades and sounded just as unapproachably magnificent and undated as they do today, and that’s what makes them classics.
(2323 W. El Segundo Blvd. Hawthorne, CA 90250)