The new CD from Exene Cervenka and her new band the Original Sinners that you can actually listen to, while there are songs your Dad, the country music fan can listen to. Now that is not a bad thing, and it certainly doesn’t erase one’s “punk credibility.” A few of the songs remind me of when my Dad, an old Dolly & Porter Waggoner fan overheard me playing Blood On The Tracks and said “I like what you’re playing.”
The Original Sinners self-titled CD (on Dexter Holland’s Nitro Records, also home to the Damned, TSOL and the Vandals.) A band of bona-fide punk pedigreed musicians Kim Chi & Mat Young (ex-Distillers) Side guitars & vocals Jason Edge and guitars Sam Soto (formerly of the stylishly named Sluts For Hire). Exene also plays guitar on some cuts. The CD is currently climbing up the college music charts, and the band just finished a brief national tour.
While Auntie Christ was more of a sonic blur in comparison, and Exene’s solo stuff “Old Wives Tales” “Running Sacred” were folk/spoken word, this effort is solid rock/cowpunk, colored by the fine musicianship of Exene’s bandmates.
Let’s just say that the guitarist is trying to be Billy Zoom Jr. at times, like during the twangy crash of Birds & Bees.You do miss those harmonies with John, though. This would be the closest to the unexpurgated X sound of any of Exene’s solo/post - X outings. The lyrics tight and accessible but full of sarcastic kick i.e “once I took a little trip I was wearing my best Freudian slip” (River City). Many of the songs deal with the usual themes of jerky guys, the most convincing being One Too Many Times, where the potent drums guitar combo I swear work well as a modern country song, as well as the fast-paced Whiskey For Supper and the zesty cowpunk rhythm of Suitcase.
The labels are easy to come by, especially with an eclectic disc like this, what it comes down to is that the songs themselves are great. Surf rock instrumental/Link Wray feel of the instrumental Mourning After. Woke Up This Mornin’ with tasty guitar work ands its straight out country punk f- you to a discarded lover . (BTW, if you’re a fan of Exene’s poetry, her new book A Beer On Every Page, is reviewed below.
A Beer On Every Page
Reminiscent of the days of William Burroughs and “found” poetry,A Beer On Every Page is a 96-page collection of poetry, graphics, illustrations and calligraphy. More stream of consciousness than “Beat”, these untitled poems are divided into six “units”. Exene’s dry humor and piquant power of observation are in full swing throughout the book.
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