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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Best Fight Story
Tuesday 14 October @ 17:28:43 |
 by Tom Hallett
Best Fight Story
Free Everybody
2003 (Fight or Flight)
With a monicker like Best Fight Story, you might pick up this band’s CD in the local music section of your neighborhood record store and think it’s gonna be some weird musical tribute to a couple o’ lifelong bullies who enjoy nothing more than pounding on the heads of innocents and gathering to match bloody tales afterwards.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “There’s lots of songwriting about important subjects. And 99 percent of it is no good. That’s the problem”
—Joan Baez
SONG OF THE WEEK: “Fighting My Way Back”
—Thin Lizzy
Well, I don’t know about the personal habits of Derek (“Iron Lung”) and Chad Johnson (vocals and guitar, bass and vocals, respectively), or their pile-drivin’ drummer, Matthew GG Holm, but I do know that the only asses these guys seem to wanna kick on Free Everybody are the ones who really deserve it. And that the fight they’re talkin’ about encompasses a helluva lot more than some schoolyard tussle.
Kicking off with the innocuously titled “Pop Songs,” Free Everybody (which features a haunting photo of a dreadlock-sporting guy—a street person?—standing on the edge of a highway with that very slogan on a sign) makes no bones about its message right from the get-go: “Don’t believe pop songs/Life ain’t easy like they try to make it sound...” Against a backdrop of liquor-soaked, “Ghost Riders” riffage and urgent rhythms, it’s not hard to imagine a fey pop-songster like Michael Stipe taking a step back an’ goin’ “Whoa!” “Freeway Crazy” washes in like a 40-foot tidal wave, with the band loping contentedly away from the madness of the city towards some roadside beer joint where their name has always been displayed in bright lights.
“Goodbye Gary” (a little note to Jayhawks frontman Louris? Hmmm...) rings out like an indictment from a 21st Century Musical Inquisition: “Goodbye, Gary, can’t say I’ll miss you very much.../Never thought you packed much of a punch..../But I don’t wanna be just another gold record bore...” Then the big guns (fists?) come out: “No, you can’t make them love you...” (a reference to the ‘Hawks tune, “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me?” If it’s not, it might as well be) “At least I ain’t gettin’ lazy/I don’t wanna be just another gold record whore...” (And in this corner, ladeez an’ gents, wearin’ beer-stained T-shirts and ripped jeans, we’ve got a scrappy little trio from the wrong side of the tracks! Facing off against the reigning local champs of alt-country/pop/rock/whatever-they-call-it-these-days! Ding!) Whew. Wotta powerful statement, man. No matter who it’s written for, it’s Truth with a capital “T.”
Ol’ “Iron Lung” has a definite Dylan-esque hint to his lyrics (though his voice careens wildly, equally referencing Mountain’s Felix Pappalardi and Steve Forbert), as evidenced by the stream-of-consciousness ranting throughout songs like “Freeway Crazy” and “Built To Last”: “A chandelier of new ideas and pocket full of gold...” “...Tailspin/Opium den...” etc. But any hack writer can string together seemingly nonsense-inspired phrases and bore me to sleep—this cat actually tells a kickass story (well, the band does include that word in their name) that makes you wanna stick around to hear the end—or the cliffhanger, as the case may be.
“Dumbasses” finds the outfit changing direction radically, grooving with a funkified riff—danceable, even!—and Earth, Wind, & Fire-high vocals. “White Black” growls out like an ancient Grand Funk Railroad album cut, as the band celebrates the return of an angry Black Jesus: “Jesus is a’ comin’ black/Giant size Jesus gonna come down from the stars/You can try to run but your little white feet won’t get you very far...” Like I said, powerful stuff, pal. “Hole In The Sky” sends up uber-patriotism with a wink and a (country) grin, over heart-breaking pickin’: “So you can march for seven days around the gates of Babylon/You can go blow your bugles out into a setting sun/You can tip your sorry hat to all of those sorry days long gone/United we’re going to stand, until we can all get back to just looking after number one...”
There’s a lot more to this album than we even have space to discuss here, which is a real shame (although they seem to be doing just fine playing in local pubs and bars, providing as much ass-shaking weekend stomp as required, and they definitely enjoy what they’re doing), since Best Fight Story, on their debut album, have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that they’re (willingly or unwillingly) taking up the Dylan/Randy Newman/Marvin Gaye mantle of social protest through music, and with all the spunk of the MC5 and the Stooges to boot. Like they say on the title track to this album, “I know it sounds strange/May sound pretty funny/Maybe it’s time we try to free everybody...”
Yep, the best fight story of all is still the biggest fight of all—the fight for freedom from oppression. Good job, boys. BFS plays The Terminal Bar on Fri., Oct. 17, and Fri., Oct. 24. That’s it for me this week, ladies and gents. Until next time—make yer own damn news.
If you have local music news/gigs/events that you’d like to see listed in this column, or you’d just like to (sigh) share your own best fight story, send replies to: TMygunn777@aol.com.
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