Trashawk – “Welcome To The Everglades”
The name of this band is Trashawk. Notice it’s not Trash-Hawk, so it’s either Tras- Hawk or Trash……..Awk! Like you’re talking out the trash from the boardwalk on the beach- cheap burgers, fries, hot dogs, cheap pizza, soda shack you work at and an enraged pelican swoops down and sexually ass-aults your posterior………and you (or the bird) go Awk!
But if you’re like me, you strike up a conversation with the bird, find common interests, eventually become engaged and ultimately, get arrested by animal control.
But upon release you find this CD, a CD by Trash…Awk! They tag themselves as crust- motorcycle gang soundtrack- punk- stoner- Boston.
Well, it’s too fast for me to call it stoner, crust punk is usually political so, unless you consider “Nuke The Whales” heavy ideology doctrine I’d say no. Now, “motorcycle gang soundtrack” sounds intriguing but hell if I know what that means?
I’d describe them as speed punk or skate punk with a lot of the original punk or proto-punk influence. This is music closer to The Ramones than Black Flag and has a hefty dose of humor.
Oh, and they also describe themselves as “ZZ Top Stoner Crust” which makes about as much sense as my reviews; well, maybe not that bad.
But I can tell you I like this album a lot and it’s a lot of fun to listen to. It’s chock full of manic energy, crazy titles, crazy words. Short, hi-energy songs with roaring guitars that sound like Wire at times, but no art/punk here. This is what Wire would sound like with frontal lobotomies.
But the proof is in the pudding or maybe the tracks, so soothe your irate pelican, penguin or Pekinese if need be, put your life on pause and give a listen.
“Trashawk Squat House’ starts out with some fuzzy, distorted guitar chords till the vocals come in sounding like some early UK punk band while some other voice comes in to chirp along in unison. The drums chop a solid, energetic beat while the guitar buzz-saws along only taking a few moments to go haywire and create havoc upon the strings. Then we’re back to the beginning but really it’s the end of this hoppin’, boppin’, tune.
[audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/01 Thrashawk Squat House.mp3|titles=Thrashawk Squat House]“Americas Band” starts with some sinister sounding chords till a voice screams, “All Right Now!” And then we’re into a groovin’, grindin’ sort of a beat. This song is mostly the riff with the chorus going, “America’s band is America’s band,” with some other lyrics sprinkled in there. But it almost sounds like a long, lost Angry Samoan song and it sure does sound mighty fine by me.
[audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/03 Americas Band.mp3|titles=Americas Band]A turning, churning riff propels “Nuclear Wasted” until some vocals starts spraying toxic waste and fire each way it turns to ignite. At one point the guitars spazz out again, feedbackin’ falling off a cliff. This is a driving, pounding song with vocals erupting into explosions- my favorite song on the album.
[audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/06 Nuclear Wasted.mp3|titles=Nuclear Wasted]“State Police State” starts with some lone drums bouncing along until a voice repeats the title several times and then screams, “Ahhhhhh.” This is more a hardcore song with the verse sung by one voice and the chorus shouted harshly by another. About halfway through the music changes and the beat becomes more moderate until revisiting the chorus for the last three seconds of the song.
[audio:https://www.thrashnbang.com/wp-content/music/08 State Police State.mp3|titles=State Police State]A song I left off my selections I really like is called “Skinhead Pride.” It’s a really great, authentic sounding Oi tune. Only trouble is, they are not an Oi band and I’m guessing this is probably meant to be a parody- but it’s still a great song!
But then I like all nine songs on their album.
And if you like them you should go to their show next Monday at O’Briens in Allston, along with Brainrot and Whoopie Sticks who I like and a couple of others I don’t know, but you really should go, ’cause I’m sure they don’t blow.
A young fellow came up to me at a recent underground show and asked me if I knew where to get some “blow.” Me, who looks like he’s dropping off his kid for the all-ages show, or maybe looking like a narc agent. “You caught me a couple of decades too late,” I told him.
But don’t be late in getting you some Trashawk ( I love when people mistakenly refer to us as, “Trash and Bang.”) Get it now- before they close the internet down for good!
(Slimedog)
