King of the Summer Twelve

In the hands of this motherfucker,
you are looking at two magic wands

King Tuff (aka Kyle Thomas) is a man of multiple talents- he fronts stoner slabbers Witch, pop dealers Happy Birthday and most excitingly, the bubbleglamming King Tuff. At the end of May, Sub Pop released the eponymous follow-up to 2008's debut LP "Was Dead" and it rules the school! Was Dead was a garage pop delight (highlighted by the terrific “Lady”) but where that album married the naïve pop of early period (yay - guitars!) Of Montreal with a cocky charm, “King Tuff” turns up the cock just a little bit and amplifies the hooks. 

Kick-off tune “Anthem”, is just that - a galloping, TRex-via-Teenage Fanclub (yup) gem to get the party started. From there, tuff-goes-taffy with pure pop, a hunxy vocal & transcendent harmonies on "Alone And Stoned". A prevailing loose, Free Energy-vibe suits these songs so well - from the cheeky handclaps on “Keep on Movin” to the wake & bake fuzzy synths of the dreamy “Unusual World” - and the melodies are relentless, craftily simple & y’know, kinda King-ly.

Wait guys, I didn't quite get it .. hold it HOLD IT...
GOT IT! CAPtured the very essence of rock n roll! WooHah

Garage rock is frequently too self conscious or just too fucking amateur to go full pop, but KT brings it all night long (for 40 minutes or so). The genre is also prone to lean on no-fi sound quality, but this recording is perfect: mid-fi & semi-bright, its nicely captured early-take energy throughout. 

All of the best elements of King Tuff perfectly storm on album centerpiece and totally kick ass song of the summer so far "Bad Thing" - chunky riff, sing along chorus, ringing Mick Jones fed lead guitar. This song, along with album closer “Hit and Run”, evokes the exultant punk pop of the mighty Exploding Hearts. 

Though this is a spirited effort and a cutoffs & beer koozie record all around, it's a pretty mellow party. Second side highlight “Evergreen” is a beautiful, dreamy song Christopher Owens (late of Girls) would kill for. KT’s songwriting is so strong, up there with Sonny Smith and Jay Reatard, that it almost seems effortless. But where Jay was obsessed with the kill, KT chills. And the chill guys always have more fun. I'll drink to that.

You Can Never Go Full Cheap Trick

As some of you near-dozens of loyal readers know, I have had my issues with Canada’s capital city, but have mostly been won over by the monstrously cool rock n' roll they are currently kicking out. One resentment lingers: they used their "freak weather" to try to kill Cheap Trick!

Silly rabbit, tricks are for runaways

There is a shady bar near me (and not shady in a romantic way – someone was killed there a couple of years ago by a stray bullet intended for the shooter’s brother) that features a tribute band every Saturday night. Over the last few weeks the  biggies have rolled in: U2, Bryan Adams (face putty!) & Shania Twain imitators. I am putting off checking it out until a worthy act rolls in – i.e. Bon Scott-era AC/DC or Thin Lizzy - and I am certainly not holding out any hope that one of my my absolute faves Cheap Trick will grace the plastic marquee any time soon. Yes, the real trixters toured through town with Aerosmith last month and remain pretty awesome, but in this economy the barroom imitation might be not only culturally fascinating, but also more fiscally rational. Although Cheap Chicks would likely be killer, CT may be one of the toughest famous bands to do dive bar justice in all of rock n roll.

Often imitated in their heyday and in the years to come, Cheap Trick had the ultimate trump card over all comers: an unparallelled lead singer (sorry, Enuff Z'nuff, The Knack, The Shazam, Sloan, etc). Due to Robin Zander’s force of nature vox, Rick Neilsen & crew’s showboat musicianship and pop hooks, Cheap Trick unlike many influential bands, were never beaten at their own game. Power pop never got as good as "Surrender", "Come On, Come On" & "Southern Girls". 

Now, yes you can say they were playing The Beatles game in the first place but you can say that about every fucking rock n roll band ever so don't say that. 

Despite their commercial pop legacy, the Cheap Trick of the first record had a nasty edge (their first single was about drug addiction/suicide! HERE WE ARE POP WORLD, IT’S ALL A CHEAP TRICK!) that became more playful and tongue in cheek as they aged and found a commercial sweetspot. That spot eventually leaned toward sickly sweet, but I digress. Their signature early sound, sharpened the old fashioned way - by playing a ton of gigs –  sounded like a really pissed off Raspberries, and their stage show, like Kiss, was way arena ready by the time they got to Budokan.

Damone was right: they are one of a kind.
I'll drink to that. 

Late 70's kids still wish they were Rick, Robin, Bun E. & Tom, it would appear. Adam Schlesinger from Fountains of Wayne tried to conjure the magic of Cheap Trick in a real band a couple of years ago called Tinted Windows. Despite the fact that he put together a firecracker squad - casting he-all-grows-up Taylor Hanson as Zander, a tasty riffer in James Iha of fellow Chicagoans Smashing Pumpkins for the role of inimitable Nielsen and even enlisting drummer Bun E. Carlos to appear as himself - it sorta fizzled and faded away. Though they may yet get together to record a follow-up,  it's okay to call Tinted Windows a one-off project at this point, as they have mostly maintained (all too many) measures of radio silence since the release of the self-titled debut in June 2009. The album was pretty great: full of catchy, rocking songs like the driving, leppard-spotted metal pop of "Get a Read on You", "Messing With My Head" and sparkling raison d'être "Kind of a Girl" and sprinkled just right with power ballads, led by "Dead Serious". But the ripple-less effect of this album cannot be understated - it didn't get a ton of promotion, they played few shows, they disappeared. Check it out, its cool and nobody takes a bullet slumming it for copy-rock!

I will close off this post with a nod to fellow Illinoise makers Off Broadway's classic album On. They were contemporaries of Cheap Trick and kicked out some gems like the full awesome "Full Moon Turn Your Head Around". Check it out!