Customer Reviews

Sweet Revenge

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On the post-riot-grrrl landscape, female-fronted punk bands range from the Sleater-Kinney camp, which merges perky cheerleader chants with adventurous art-rock, to the Donnas and their daughters, who churn out straight-forward rockers that attempt to make up for in spunk what they lack in substance. In the middle of this spectrum are Sleater-Kinney's Olympia, Washington neighbors The Bangs, who blend their hand-clapping go-go pop with infectious riffs reminiscent of Cheap Trick. (The group ends its sophomore album, Sweet Revenge, with a knowing cover of that band's "Southern Girls.") As a result, The Bangs are accessible without dumbing down their tunes, many of which are relatively complex with bass-driven breakdowns and searing solos. Lyrically, the group mixes its playful spirit with a more mature attitude, as on "Train Wreck," which begins with singer Sarah Utter delivering flirty come-ons, then slows down as she weighs the possible consequences of her impulsive actions. "Shick Shadel" matches a dark melodic undercurrent with appropriately downbeat lyrics (I tear my hair out watching her win/While I'm resigned as a distant friend), but the next song, "Licorice Whip," quickly re-establishes the record's peppy slumber-party feel. With Sweet Revenge, The Bangs balance the best of both worlds -- raw enough to remain genuine, but polished enough to demand respect.

A lot has been made of The Bangs' influences-they share a label (and occasionally tours) with established girl-punk icons Sleater-Kinney. While there may be some common characteristics, the two bands are fundamentally different. Sleater-Kinney are very political, exploring complex issues with their music. The Bangs share a similar "go get 'em" attitude, but their songs are more focused on teenage angst, relationships and just rocking out than they are on hot debates. This is fun music. The opening track illustrates this- it's entitled "Fast Easy Love," It's about forty-five seconds long, and contains the line "gimme fast, gimme easy, gimme NOW!" And that sums up what they give you over the course of the record - fast, immediate and catchy songs.The one slow burner, "undo everything," is a surprise in the middle of the album - slower and sadder, but lacking none of the energy and passion of the more rocking tracks. If you like this, a band with a similar spirit (and similar line-up of two girls and a boy) is the Rondelles.