The Evil Queens – Lovesong Werewolves – Review

theevilqueens200The Evil Queens

Lovesong Werewolves (Sunken Treasure)
By Craig Regala

I really dig how these guys have molded their ’80s alternative/post punk rootage into a more physical, powerful, musical rock attack. They have a distinct clanging and staccato chop, parry and thrust birthed when the Midwest absorbed The Wire, Gang of Four, Birthday Party, and Fall’s “post punk” energy flow into a culture that rhythmically rocked as a matter of course. Ho-zanna! Herein, the tunes are strong, playing spot-on, and it’s recorded well by John Chinn, a guy who knows what the fuck’s what. First and foremost, The Evil Queens have a distinct identity rolling thru different tempos and structures without pandering or irony. Most of’m did time in Our Flesh Party in the mid-’90s, a band that started out kinda alt.funky.rock and whittled it into a ball of wire, backbone, and meat that stands up to Fugazi, Quicksand, and Barkmarket’s lumpen tension-release electrocuted groove. Their second record, whence it all rose up, is titled Manifest Destiny, and it’s a good one. You can take The E.Q.’s as honing that well-hewn walking stick into a lance t’ poke, prod, and draw a little blood from you, the deserving consumer.

The Evil Queens were slotted to play with Totimoshi and Nebula last week, but bowed out. Fuckers. It woulda been cool to see’m in front of that audience. Not theirs but open-minded (stoned?), enough to grasp the flow and attack for what it is. Besides post-punkliness (or hell, part of its impetus), strip the starklystructured King Crimson stuff down to its gears (Faust-Crimson?) and grab some of the hard art rock gunk of High Tide as part of the push-you, pull-me’isms evident in The Evil Queens attack. Take that pile-o’prog/crunch (sans anything that feels like it belongs in a Yes or Mars Volta composition), compact its rhythm/blurt into a nifty car crash of a tune, and slip on yer dad’s Big Black T-shirt (it’ll fit great). Now your battlearm’s ready to swivel for real. These jokers are three records in and show no sign of flagging. Like good mid-Westerners, they keep on keepin’ on an’ take it to the stage.

The other units I’d throw on the mix-tape for your compare’m/contrast’m pleasure would be: The Mark of Cain, Slot, Shellac, Morsel, The Laughing Hyenas, Cursive, Modey Lemon, Below the Sound, Th’ Faith Healers, The Gang of Four, The Means, the half dozen tunes by Sonic Youth that actually rock, My Dad Is Dead, The Birthday Party, Six Finger Satellite when they delt with guitars, Freshkills, Helios Creed, and The Hot Snakes.
(www.sunkentreasure.org)