Band: The Pink Spiders
Album: Hot Pink
Year: 2004
Style: Pop-Punk, Power Pop, Garage Rock
Similar Bands: MC5, Mooney Suzuki, A's, OK Go
One Word Review: Speedy Neurotic Pop
Based Out Of: Nashville, Tennessee
Label: CI Records, Lumberjack Distribution
Hot Pink - Cover & Liner Notes
Hot Pink - Liner Photo & Lyrics
Hot Pink - Centerfold Picture & CD
Hot Pink - Lyrics & Liner Photo
Hot Pink - Back
Hot Pink (2003)- Stereo Speakers 2:35
- Teenage Graffiti 2:19
- Knock Knock 2:19
- Sham On 2:07
- Going Steady 1:40
- Hollywood Fix 2:29
- Modern Swinger 3:04
- Talk Hard 2:57
- Chicago Overcoat 2:37
- Little Razorblade 4:11
- Soft Smoke 3:33
Album Rating (1-10): 8.5
Members & Other Bands:
Matt Friction - Vox, Guitar, Producer, Writing (Silent Friction, Oliver's Army, MF & The Cheap Shots, The Dozen Dimes, Intramural, Sadaharu)
Matt Friction - Vox, Guitar, Producer, Writing (Silent Friction, Oliver's Army, MF & The Cheap Shots, The Dozen Dimes, Intramural, Sadaharu)
Jon Decious Bass (Dixie Whiskey, Caitlin Rose, The Armed Forces)
Bob Ferrari - Drums (Oliver's Army, Dixie Whiskey)
Jason Bullock - Producer, Engineer, Mixing, Mastering
Bo Streeter - Photography
Jeff Breil - Layout Design
Coyote Cospel - Layout & Design
Raf Cevallos - Rhodes, Farfisa Organ, Moog, Melodica, Omnichord (Silent Friction, Comfies)
Jonathan Morrell - Cello
Unknown-ness: I've never heard of this band, but from the 60's vinyl recreation layout, I imagine they are trying to employ the image of a 60's garage pop band. Their clothing style is in their present era, but even down to the fake-record ring on the cover and back, they are presenting themselves as a retro-style band.
Album Review: The Pink Spiders
found themselves in the middle of an 11 label bidding war back in 2004, before
they were picked up by Geffen. This album has some of those tracks recorded
before they found stardom. It is a full onslaught of nervous energy, and
jittery vocals with the energy of big garage bands from Detroit. I only imagine
the showmanship matched the recorded energy live. After this they had the big
major label album, but through a string of awful events, they lost the contract
and self-released the third album. 2/3 of the band left mid-tour, but they all reconvened
to play a fan’s bar mitzvah in 2010, and have been on the return since.
“Stereo Speakers”
bursts through with some aggressive, fast lyrics. The rock energy is equal to
the MC5 and Mooney Suzuki. The vocals have a nice snotty, neurotic new wave accent
to them, and the melody is whiney to match. The guitars soar in the background
at the very end.
“Teenage
Graffiti” is driven by guitar and very fast played guitar chords. The vocals
again have that A’s quality of rushed singing. The song feels like it was
recorded at 33 and played at 45. The chords are played fast on top of one
another.
“Knock Knock”
starts out with a slow, low church organ. Then the song begins in a catchy,
normal paced pop song. Again, the best description of the vocals is nasally,
jittery new wave. The drums are pounding where they don’t necessarily need to, as
the tempo is slower than their beat.
“Sham On” feels
like an OK Go song, with the vocals processed through a bit of a fuzzy effect.
The song is a straight up power pop jam, and there is a little sample of a carnival
melody at the end of the verse. It is just missing one more section or element
to be a solid pop song.
“Going Steady”
jams out with an acoustic guitar intro. The song then jumps off the rapid fire
lyric and chord progression end, like a sped up Buddy Holly tune. In the second
half of the song, they employ a guitar tone that drowns out the rest of the
song.
“Hollywood Fix”
has a sing-song pop-punk melody. But the vocals are not as angry: just nasally.
I feel like this song could have its own dance.
“Modern Swinger” was
a single off this album, and their video for it is apparently included on the
CD. starts with bass and drums in a dark manner that could actually lead to
reggae. But the guitar kicks in, and it becomes a segmented power pop song. In
the verse, the music sounds like Weezer, but the vocals are still OK Go. There
is a breakdown with just a drum back beat and the vocal melody, still as
stressed out as if backed by a full force of instruments.
“Talk Hard” tries
to be metal with a slow headbanging intro. The jangly rhythm guitar and speedy
lyrics change the direction to be a pop song. The two genres meet in the chorus
to be a bold power pop song.
“Chicago
Overcoat” is a power-ballad with slow soothing guitars. The style is changed at
the drop of a hat into a fast driving pop song. The production of the vocals is
a little emo, with call and response shouting lyrics. They are set back in the
mix with a bit of distortion over them to not come off overwhelming.
“Little
Razorblade” was their big single when rerecorded and rereleased on their big
Geffen album. Here it slows things down in a pleasant way. It is bluesy but
still overproduced, but is a relaxing melody compared to the rest of the album,
with the guitar counting up individual notes. There is still a lot of emotion
in the vocals; I can see how this was a sought after band, as I imagine the
live show was very energetic.
“Soft Smoke”
kicks right in with wailing guitar solos, and we’re back to the Detroit Rock
sound and energy. The vocals dribble out of the singer’s mouth in machine gun
like strings, yet still in tune with the melody and chord changes.
Stand Out Track: Teenage Graffiti
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