Roadsaw

Rawk N’ Roll (Lunasound)
by Craig Regala

Straight-up ’80s-based kick-ass fully conscious of what’s occurred since (read: They cover a Pixies song). Analogous to The Backyard Babies, Roadsaw take ’80s glam and its roots (Aerosmith, The Nuge, Van Halen, Kiss) and pour it straight through pushy bar-chord riff logic. Now and then, a thick/heavy bottom raises its leaden head to sustain an ominous mood. You’ll enjoy that part as much as the “your ass, my foot” stuff. I like it even more, especially the Soundgarden-takes-a-whack-at-Hendrix acid metal of “Hoof” (a Gobblehoof tribute?). No surprise my wife was jazzed when I put this on the back of the Hellacopters’ Grande Rock tape. It rocks out mid-tempo’s enough to get a groove going and maintains a “rockist” enough profile to play with Fu Manchu or Monster Magnet, her other top three of the ’90s bands. The organ lends a touch of smog to the proceedings and likens these guys to certain Steppenwolf moments (trust me, there’s a helluva lot more to the Wolf than “Born To Be Wild”), as well as other worthies from the Nixon era. I couldn’t find any specific nods to say, UFO, but these guys could bang out a cover of “Natural Thing” or “Chains, Chains” hot enough to raise any hesher’s blood pressure. If you’re familiar with’m, this is a bit broader in scope than their three previous discs. Get it on wax, if you can – the double LP has four more tracks: An Aerosmith cover (“Toys In The Attic”) from the Small Stone trib, a short, off-kilter instrumental, and a couple full-on originals up to snuff. The label’s overseas, but the disc costs $14 postpaid.
(www.lunasoundrecordings.com)