Chicks Who Love Guns - Stutter (EP)
Sydney five-piece Chicks Who Love Guns have just released their second Extended Play, ‘Stutter’, the follow up to last year’s ‘Vomit on the Dancefloor’. In between the band released an online only single, ‘God, Love & Satan’, a song that has two accompanying clips, one of which showing the band’s drummer getting the song name tattooed on the inside his lip. Sounds like fun. But it does give you the idea that they are some kind of crazy death metal band. They are more like indie rock with the grunge of Nirvana and the knack of writing a song that has made British India so popular, only with dirtier vocals.
The most notable lyrics from the sketchy-rock opener ‘Run People’ is, ‘Everyone I know, they tell me there’ll be others, but everyone I know’s a stupid motherfucker’. The attitude expressed in this lyric fits their “do what we want, play music the way we want” persona perfectly. ‘Run People’ is so undeniably energetic and catchy, tight and at the same time extremely unpolished, in a very attractive sort of way. The brash vocals of singer Cass Navarro, pounding drums and twangy and intricate guitar work combines to make a powerful powder keg of a song.
This very website’s Alex Buckley’s review of their debut EP asked whether the band was “the shot in the arm indie rock needs?” The consensus was basically ‘yes it is’. This EP picks up where ‘Vomit on the Dancefloor’ left off. Raw energy a plenty and uncompromising and eclectic rock’n’roll right the way through. Last year BEAT Magazine described them as stupid and genius going hand in hand, that's a pretty fair assessment. They clearly make music the way they want to make it, even if it isn’t the kind of music that is currently in vogue at the moment. The result being pretty great.
The ever so witty ‘Stain Alive’ is track two and keeps the fast paced mood of ‘Run People’ going. Navarro’s vocals have an imperfect quality to them that make the sound achieved very refreshing. ‘Left In the Gutter’ is a touch slower, but no one told Navarro, whose vocals are even more abrasive and louder than ever. The chorus features him screaming the name of the EP, and rhyming it with gutter, a nice touch I thought.
‘Ill Murray’ is the last song, and the band don’t decide to lower the mood or drop the pace. If anything it’s slightly faster than the two previous tracks. The instrumentation is slightly cleaner but still feels very rock'n'roll. The backing vocals are screamed in a similar way to how ‘The Hives’ Nicholaus Arson does it when backing up his lead singer brother.
This EP is dirty, unpolished, probably offensive and very grungy and raw. That’s possibly the reason it’s so good. If you’ve heard Run People on the radio, rest assured the rest of the release is just as good. People who like their indie rock with a little bite will enjoy Chicks Who Love Guns, because the band really is indie rock on crack.
