The SuperBees High Volume
By
Frank Meyer,
Contributing Editor
Wednesday, October 2, 2002 @ 12:28 AM
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Straight outta the steamy, seedy streets of Hollywood, CA comes the SuperBees, a supercharged, high-octane hard rawk n’ roll band with all the snarl, shake and sneer of old school punk. More Stooges than Strokes, Ramones than White Stripes, and more MC5 than MC Hammer (stupid, I know), the SuperBees worship at the alter of bands such as Hanoi Rocks, Smack, Thee Hypnotics, Iggy Pop, etc. Huge guitars, crashing drums, monster power chords, distorted howling vocals about chicks and drugs and so on. If this is your bag, you’re gonna go LOVE this…
Basically you got your balls-out three-chord rockers like the reckless “Girl From K.C.,” the hip shakin’ “Got This Feelin’,” and the hypnotic (get it?) “Really Wanna Know,” that just thrust and stammer with drunken Cramps-style abandon but with the power and sonic boom of vintage Monster Magnet. Yeah, you heard me right. The Double M. Naw, this ain’t no lo-fi garage rock record, there’s some truly wall-size riffing going on here and the production is up to the challenge issued by the band. Guitarist Scott Carlson in particular steps up to the plate with some blistering lead guitar work and some choice riffs (check the rhythm interplay on “Do You Understand”).
Then you got yer more ‘60s sounding Who meets Doors meets Stooges jams such as the struttin’ “Dirty,” the ‘60s Nuggets vibe of “Move Me,” and the “Maggie M’Gill”-like swagger of “Crawler.” Singer/guitarist Dave James just wraps himself around this stuff, singing his heart out of these broken blues gutter anthems. An on-point cover by obscure Finnish glam punks Smack’s “Run Rabbit Run,” a Stooges sounding song called “Loose” that’s not a cover, and Funhouse-tinged artwork shows the band wears their influences on their sleeves and ain’t takin’ any of this too seriously.
I recently put this album on at a BBQ that was starting to fade. After hours of bad music the host threw on an album by The The and I almost lost my friggin’ mind. I ran out to my car and grabbed the first three rock CDs I saw -- Aerosmith Toys In The Attic, Nashville Pussy’s Say Something Nasty, and this here SuperBees album. I quickly ran into the party, popped open the player, hurled The The into the fire, and cranked the Superbees loud and proud. Immediately the party started swinging, the beer started flowing faster and then everyone started rockin’. Burgers were consumed, some dude got laid and a good time was had by all. True story.
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