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I also like the twist the best West Coast bands seem to put on country music. They don't feel bound by the Nashville formulas or some of the more hide-bound traditions that country musicians are tied to in most other parts of the country, including Texas. From the first note there isn't doubt one that the West Coast Pinups are a honky tonk band, but they don't do it like anyone else I can think of. They don't tone it down for the bluehairs, they don't dumb it down for the how-drunk-are-we ball-cap frat-boy idiots, and they don't do those ingratiating automatic covers like "Whiskey River" or "Silver Wings" to satisfy that segment of the country audience that feels mentally safer with cover song clichés. Caution: Swinging Doors is adult honky tonk music that makes no apologies and that doesn't censor anything in the search for radio acceptance. This is music for barroom sinners and hardcore honky tonkers, country music for the late night crowd. No others need apply because they won't "get it." One quick buck always leads to another What separates The Pinups from the rest? Well, with rhythm guitarist Joe McGrath producing, they mix their records with lots of drums and bass in the forefront. Considering McGrath's previous producing/engineering credits, several of which were nominated for Grammys (Taj Mahal, B.B. King, Blink 182, The GoGo's, Keb Mo and others), it isn't particularly surprising that McGrath doesn't mask the rhythm section or present it as an afterthought the way it is on so many country records. The West Coast Pinups also separate their sound from others by turning their guitarists loose. Lead guitar has become rote and restrained on so many recent country records, but Pinups' lead guitarist Johnny Smokes displays a picking facility akin to the likes of Junior Brown and Dave Alvin on many cuts. No doubt Smokes is only a stage name, but it is certainly an accurate description of his guitar playing. This band has no fear of flashy, over the top guitar solos. The West Coast Pinups also distinguish themselves with their edgy songwriting. Everyone in the band writes, and they seem to have it down to a science. The hooks are dead on the mark and always 100% true to the honky tonk situation. There is no tip-toeing around the ugly side of barroom life, no coy little code words like "slippin' around" for the cheating situation and, just like genetically altered corn, saccharine ballads have been banned for human consumption. There's no "No Smoking" section in the Pinups' musical bar and everything doesn't turn out all right in fact, nothing does. These songs are minimum 100 proof poured directly from the oaken kegs or dipped straight from the still. Like the name Caution: Swinging Doors implies, these are songs about drinking and carousing and bar life. Happy Hour is 24 hours a day and we never close. There is a trucker song, but it takes place in a bar, so... There is not a single throwaway song on the album and most are as stout as a garlic milkshake, as good as there are in this or any other genre. "Lush Life," by bassist Ben Farkas, has an excellent play on words pun and first-rate drinking song lyrics. Singer Cella Blue's vocal hits the mark in every way in this vignette from the alcohol side of life. 6 o'clock in the mornin' Let this lush life take over McGrath wrote what is probably the most radio friendly tune on the album, the shuffling two-step "Shadow on the Curtain." Drummer Jo-Jo Peterson drives this danceable track and Smokes fills every crack and crevice with muscular honky tonk guitar. Blue's Betty Boop vocal is made to order for this infectious jealousy track that has the strongest of the many hooks on the record. I saw his shadow dancin' on the curtains I'm afraid I can't be judgmental Another McGrath song, "One Good Reason," delves deep into that most dangerous honky tonk equation loneliness plus alcohol. Ms. Blue gives a Patsy Kline performance, milking all the sorrow and sympathy she can from this one with unusual phrasing and pauses, and Dave Alvin sidekick Greg Liesz makes his steel guitar cry on this straight barroom honky tonk song that sounds anything but standard. Sawdust soothing my head Give me one good reason to go home Mr. Smokes, who has been twanging away with a great deal of technical proficiency and finesse throughout the album finally steps fully into the spotlight on his own "Tennessee Hustler," where he borrows from Jimmy Rodgers' "Muleskinner Blues" and augments the familiar lyric with some roughhouse verses of his own. It may be redundant to say so, but Smokes smokes on this track. He plays his guitar in a mile-a-minute, fluid, banjo-picker style and the licks are quick and completely uncountable. I can't think of anyone other than Junior Brown who can even attempt to hang with Smokes on this track. Somebody alert the arson inspector. Ms. Blue's scatty vocals also go by so fast that she's already on the next verse when your mind says "Whaaaaaaaat did she say?" Now he don't need no high-fallutin', man-huntin', shotgun-shootin',
bar-crawlin', The Farkas-McGrath tune "My Left Pocket" is another scorcher that sees Smokes showing off his Bill Kirchen truck drivin' licks and tearing it up again while Peterson's drumming keeps it all tight and diesel-fuelled as Ms. Blue belts out some of the most authentic trucker lyrics ever written. At the neon lights just outside of Barstow The tune is titled after an incident in the song where this hopped-up, mind-racing trucker reaches in his pocket for one of his little white pills and instead swallows some pocket change. Just show me one disc jockey in America who has the guts to play this song and I'll stop saying radio is in the hands of moron program directors and money-grubbin', politically correct, Philistine corporate yes men who have sexual identity problems. One of the real treats on this album is how Ms. Blue takes these songs written by men and absolutely makes them her own (and how these men have written songs that work so well from the feminine point of view). Whether she's been hurt or she's just had enough, Ms. Blue knows how to get the proper inflection to really put these songs across, as she does on McGrath's "Better Things To Do." I've got better things to do Ms. Cella Blue (another wonderful California stage name, no doubt) makes her songwriting debut with the cute and catchy "Move to the Back of the Line," and it seems the perfect vehicle to project Ms. Blue's assumed stage personality. This wonderful song is all sass, attitude and self-esteem, and I love it. I'm dustin' off my get up and go, I'm ready for the ride Another track with a very catchy hook and lots of radio potential is "Let Tomorrow Morning (Worry About Last Night)". Written by Farkas and McGrath, this is another big beat honky tonk rocker with plenty of Mr. Smokes' wailing Telecaster marking the trail (and sounding a lot like fellow Californian Dave Alvin when he gets in country mode). Once again, Ms. Blue nails this raucous tune with plenty of party girl attitude and alcohol-backed swagger. The night is young, it's only 3 a.m. Keeping it hardcore honky tonk to the end, McGrath's ""New Spin On The Bottle" puts a new spin on the old Johnny Lee song, "Lookin' For Love (In All The Wrong Places)." Once again, this is exactly the kind of material that is right in Ms. Blue's vocal wheelhouse. She and the band lean hard into this smoke-filled number. The prospects are dim and the pickin's are slim 'Cause you ain't Mr. Perfect, you ain't Mr. Right After spending considerable time with Caution: Swinging Doors, I can't think of another album I've heard with this much attitude, this much disregard for the unwritten rules of the country music game, or with this much musical talent allowed to play in such an unrestrained environment. The West Coast Pinups seem to have come at this project with a big, muscular, noisy, roadhouse-friendly album in mind, and that is exactly what they produced. Unfortunately unless you live in an area with an extremely sharp and open Americana radio station, if you want to hear Caution: Swinging Doors you'll probably have to go buy it because the mainstream country disc jockeys are going to avoid this one like the plague. To play Caution: Swinging Doors would be to admit that there is great country music out there that the radio stations could be playing instead of that watered down filler pabulum they and their advertisers find it so comforting to feed us. * If you like real country music with lots of attitude and
red hot picking, go to www.westcoastpinups.com
and get yourself a dose of the Real Deal. Also, check out Joe
McGrath's studio, Joe McGrath Audio, at www.joemcgrath.com |
I like records that just seem
to jump out of the speakers from the first note. I especially
like country records that do it. Almost every one of the 13 songs
on Caution: Swinging Doors does just that.
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