Red Bennies - Announcing
(Vaccination)
I remember being at a Red Bennies show maybe six or seven years ago. It was my first one. The kids in the crowd seemed pretty amazed and excited by what they were seeing, but me, I was unimpressed by what I wrote off as a sloppy version of Black Sabbath with piercing, atonal vocals provided by a weirdo drummer wearing red eyeliner and a beat up denim jacket with an upside-down cross painted on the back. Later I found out that, even though Red Bennies were a new band at the time, they'd already gone through a number of changes in terms of who played what. Their real drummer hadn't made it to the show in question so Dave Payne, the upside-down cross guy who was essentially the owner of the band and the regular guitarist, had filled in for him. One of a couple former bass players took Dave's place on guitar, and, in addition, this was string bass player Paul Butterfield's very first performance with the group. The fact that every band member was doing something unfamiliar, however, didn't make me feel much more forgiving. I still wasn't ready to acknowledge that this could be more than a few typically disaffected kids who'd been swept up in the stylishness of crusty ancient metal that had been brought about by the then fairly recent popularization of grunge bands such as Soundgarden. In fact, I still don't know if they were much more than just that at the time.
However, over the past several years, and through an assortment of
Red Bennies line-ups and sound approaches, the persistent vision and desire of Dave Payne and his now seemingly permanent collaborator Paul
Butterfield to create the perfect version of exciting but beautiful rock has led the group to continually improve and build themselves up from, what I have to admit in retrospect was actually a pretty fine example of loud rock to begin with, into what is, in my mind, without a doubt one of the finest groups playing loud rock today.
Announcing is the Red Bennies' third album (if you don't count their zillions of cassette only releases), and is simultaneously rawer and more sophisticated than either of their previous two. The songs themselves seem faster and livelier than some of the band's older, heavier material, but the writing is more directed, the arrangements are more layered, and the lyrics seem more intelligent and soulful. This album is their first to include lots of organ (a permanent keyboard player was added to their lineup just after its release), which combines with the unusual fuzzed up string bass sound to create a very effective, sonically fresh foundation for the songs that makes them instantly recognizable as something different than typical dumb dropped-D tuning rock. Overtones of the group's former Sabbath-eque super heavy drudge still ring through the music, but that's no longer the first and only thing you hear. There's much more complexity, a mix of textures borrowed from jazz, soul and elsewhere, plus some occasional rock star clichés that are done so earnestly and creatively that they're actually kind of cute.
But this is far from light touch music. Nor is it overly thought out, boring math or stunt rock. Basically, the Red Bennies take the rough and reckless "we tear apart" approach of a group like Karp, and elevate it to something more like art. Rather than sissifying the music, the poetic earnestness and soul that you'll find here makes the music naked, intense, and actually beautiful, not just ass-kicking. And it's all performed with the kind of crazed abandon that can only be pulled off effectively by people who really know what they're doing.
This is a long disk with only 8 tracks. The Red Bennies are a fabulous live band, and in that setting the volume and energy that goes into playing some of these songs for seven or eight minutes is completely absorbing. It's a shame that it's always difficult to capture that kind of thing on a recording. I do sometimes find myself skipping ahead halfway through a song. Usually when I do this, though, what's going through my mind isn't "I'm bored" so much as, "I can't wait, I think my favorite song is next." So, I don't know if this is criticism or not.
After years of namelessness, Red Bennies really deserve the national recognition that they're just now starting to get. The music on
Announcing is far more stylish, charismatic and I guess just plain sexy than typical indie metal, and whether it actually does the job or not, this album really ought to bring the band to still more people's attention.
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