"I used to be a wild boy, now they call me a fag"
- Mr. Mama
Now then, Mr. Mama is a yet unsigned, Belgian band playing
some loud rock'n'roll, with the intention that their music should be mostly
rock'n'roll, less vocals, lyrics and messages. Therefore, the rocking quartet
(with a drummer, a bassist, a guitarist and a singer) has mixed the vocals far
back into the background, in a Felt way, although the music is all different.
And, the lyrics are intended to be pretty much impossible to interpret, so that
no political message or something similar would distract anybody. All in all,
I guess Mr. Mama might not be your first choice if you're a singer looking for
a band to rock in, but on the other hand, the "silent" vocals (delivered with
a delightful lack of technique buy the singer Guy Peters) makes their sound
sort
of personal, and it's only a good thing. Musically, there is a quite obvious
influence of Swedish rockers Hellacopters, and assorted speedy, loud rock. The
drummer (Patrick Remans) bashes out one rythm after another, the bassist (Danny
Czekaj) and the guitarist usually plays similar lines, except when the guitarist
(Roel Paulussen) goes soloing. And, well, that's about it! Three of the six
songs (the first three ones, actually) are sped-up, riff-based, aggressive thingys,
and the other three are slower, more hypnotic rock songs with a steady bass
line and a guitar adding whatever solo or riff here and there. And, on the bottom
of it, there are often the vocals.
Now then, problems I have with the record is that the
production is kind of clean - my humble opinion is that this kind of music should
sound shitty and gritty in order to be nifty, like Motörhead, or something.
And, the bassist I am, I would love to hear the bass booming out from the speakers
and playing a more important role than it does, like Nomeansno (which also seems
to have influenced the group) for all I know! If there will ever be a live album
available by the band, I'm sure that would kick even more ass! And also, 6 songs
in 15 minutes makes for just awfully short songs. That's just for good, for
the most part, though, except that the last song, their title track, has the
atmosphere and the structure of an 8-minute, jam based tune, something like
a mixture of Neil Young's longer tunes, like "Down By The River" and stuff,
and heavy, bass-based
rock. Like Nomeansno's "Disappear"! But in a slower and darker way, and certainly
less groovy. Nobody will ever beat that song in terms of grooviness, but now
I'm leaving the subject - Mr. Mama don't try to do a "Disappear"! So, to hell
with me; this is indeed a very good little album, and! There's a second demo
out which I yet haven't heard while writing this, and I'm sure that one will
kick ass as well! Head right over to their site at www.mrmama.be, and ask them
to send you their stuff!