I've got a lot of time for Rolling Stone magazine. Over the years its produced some of the most spot-on rock writing around, and fostered the careers of Lester Bangs, and Greil Marcus, two of my all-time heroes. But sometimes they can get it very very wrong indeed. According to the blurb that I've been given along with the new Ettes EP 'Danger Is', they've apparently described the LA-based garage trio as 'the new Cramps'; that's well wide of the mark, and not a little offensive coming in the light of Lux Interior's death. The new Cramps they are not.
Hungover-ranting aside. It's worth letting The Ettes into your life. Don't be put off by the trappings that come with them – yes, they've got celebrity mates, yes, they've got an ironically amusing name, yes they do look a little too over-styled. But, amongst all the waffle, they've got some cracking songs. Coming in the slipstream of the White Stripes, which made it OK for mainstream music fans to listen to garage bands, 'Danger Is' showcases The Ettes' short, catchy fuzz-blasted power-pop (they call it Beat Punk, but that doesn't really mean anything). Songs to drink beer, hug your mates, pump your fist in the air, snog a stranger and start a fight to. Apparently, a couple of tracks on the EP were produced by some dude from the Black Keys.
There's nothing cerebral here, and nothing particularly original – they don't do anything that bands like The Cut In The Hill Gang and the Detroit Cobras don't do – but I guarantee that chucking tracks like No Home onto the stereo will improve your day. Check 'em.
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Tags: Detroit Cobras, Greil Marcus, Lester Bangs, Rolling Stone, The Black Keys, The Cramps, The Cut In The Hill Gang, The Ettes
