Slug Guts
Howlin' Gang
13 Track, LP (2011, Sacred Bones)
Related: Slug Guts.
It doesn't get much more Slug Guts than the song 'Hangin' in the Pisser'. I'm not exactly sure what it is they are doing in there but it's sure to be no good. Moths smashing into fluorescent lights, crude graffiti, yellow urinal cakes, a wiry guitar line and a guttural baritone that the notorious Brisbane band have become known for.
This follow up to 2009's hotly debated Down on the Meat is a slightly different affair. Sure it's got dark and gloomy low groove bass and a feel of clammy perspiration but whereas the debut was recorded after only four months of the band forming 'Howlin' Gang' is a more assured release. It's also got a lot more apostrophes.
Slug Guts - Hangin' in the Pisser by Tla OT
To be honest I never really got the whole psychobilly goth/swamp blues comparison they were lumped with after the first album. To me they were a punk band. One that played in a darker direction and took awkward press and album cover photos. They were young punks from Brisbane with upturned collars and lips trying to make a point in provoking the cool kids of Sydney and Melbourne. They got hated on because many thought they were derivative of the Birthday Party, King Snake Roost and early Scientists. That may be so, but they also toured Japan and the US, while your housemates’ band just got back from two shitty shows in Adelaide.
Slug Guts - Howlin' by sacredbones
Recorded in a railway carriage on the outskirts of Ipswich, Howlin' Gang is a record that comes out swinging with attitude from the beginning. The bass line on the opening 'Howlin' is ominous, the musical equivalent of the film villain putting on rubber gloves as the basement door slowly closes. Not sure what 'Praggin' the Cowboy' is about. Maybe that's a good thing.
'Spring Hill Lair' is obviously a play on the album Spring Hill Fair by fellow Brisbanite's The Go-Betweens. At first you'd think that Slug Guts are everything that The Go-Betweens are not, the antithesis even. However, listening to the menacing, spoken-word 'River of Money' from Spring Hill Fair, you realise that early Go-Betweens and Slugs Guts have more in common then you think.
'Down in the Mornin' Sun' is complimented with vocals from Sarah Spencer (Blank Realm) and Michelle Brown and Helena Papageorgiou (both of Brisbane band Feathers). “Tender” is not a word usually associated with Slug Guts but it's the only way to describe the closing ‘Angie’, a slow-burning duet with Circle Pit's Angie Bermuda. It’s one of the album’s biggest surprises and best tracks.
by Tim Scott
What: Playin' In Time With The Deadbeat by Slug Guts.
When: July …
Inaugural all-day garage/rock/lo-fi/no-wave/hardcore festival Flavours…
In the vein of the much-missed Flip Out and the recent Maggot Fest co…
– Resurgent ’90s stalwarts Jebediah will drop their new album Kosciusz…
...and therefore beyond criticism.
Otherwise, good album, good review. Great at the Tote a few weeks back.
fantastic record, maybe my favourite australian record this year so far?
'Hangin' in the Pisser' is a great name for a song.
That's an incredibly fucked thing to say.
I agree with electricsound, fav aussie album of the year so far.
I wanna see em on a lineup with The Stabs.
That's an incredibly fucked thing to say.
Made me laugh.
Farj, quoting failure. As in, I think it's a perfectly unfucked thing to say, and is funny.
I found it condescending and insulting. Not to mention stupid.
It's meant to be condescending. Your house-mate's band sucks.
Coming from Adelaide I agree. It's pretty boring to hear your city trashed over and over again. There's a lot of interesting stuff here if you want to bother
That's an incredibly fucked thing to say.
Touchy cunts around here.
that's an incredibly fucked thing to say ghoti-max
THAT's an incredibly fucked thing to say.
Not touchy, just siiiiiiiick of people trashing Adelaide. Okay. Maybe a little touchy.
I love Adelaide, it's cool, especially in February/March when the Fringe is running. People shit on the suburbs I grew up in, but I've never felt the need to get cranky when people write a review for a punk bank who went and toured in Casula instead of touring Japan......
''They were young punks from Brisbane with upturned collars and lips trying to make a point in provoking the cool kids of Sydney and Melbourne. They got hated on because many thought they were derivative of the Birthday Party, King Snake Roost and early Scientists. That may be so, but they also toured Japan and the US, while your housemates’ band just got back from two shitty shows in Adelaide.''
Tim, this is factually incorrect; the core of the band have been in many, many Brisbane bands going back at least 6+ years - I didn't realize 25 (or there abouts) counted as young in the ''punk rock'' context that your using - your review gives the misleading impression that they are like 17 or 18 - something, with the point you are making, might have more credence if it was true.
Point taken. It just gets a bit tiresome. I'm being a hypocrite anyway, I'm moving overseas later this year
While Slug Guts used to sound like The Birthday Party and Bird Blobs, they now sound like The Wreckery and Witch Hats. Awesome. 10/10
Did Slug Guts fuck your girlfriend? Over the years you seem to really have a deep seeded, almost pathological dislike for them..
You should give the album a listen because your snide and embittered remarks are well..just wrong.
i still miss death:wolf!
You're saying I should change my 10/10 score?
Downgrade! Downgrade!
I miss look pond and on/oxx
LIVE LP ''LIVIN EVIL'' OUT ON NEGATIVE GUEST LIST RECORDS THIS MONTH.
Not sure how that line is ''trashing Adelaide''. Think you're missing the point. You could substitute ''Sydney/Melbourne'' and it would've worked just as well.
I see that. Just being a grumpy old lady. Living in Adelaide will do that to you. Wish I had shut up, haha.
I saw on/oxx once. They were badly in need of belts to keep their pants up. They had saxophone. The rest is a blur.
Is this what they call a redundancy in journalism?
howlin is the best song they've had i reckon.
angie, the worst. but on this review i'll relisten for whatever it was i missed.
bumbumbububuuubumbumbububuuu diddidledidiidiiiididiiiddiddlidoooo
i've still got copies of this killer LP available for mailorder if people haven't grabbed one yet. also i'll have copies of the 'LIVE' LP available for mailorder very shortly. check it out! www.nopatience.org/store
this is a pretty good album.
Yes, yes it is
Gotta get the live one, great band.