Kim & Dro – Haircut
One of these days, The Council is going to get a hold of every notable rockstar refusing to go out on the road and do a greatest hits package for the fans. And, sitting on her throne, Sharon Osbourne will call to her minions to torture the poor saps who have not yet understood the true meaning of rock n’ roll – pure commerce.
Having learned their lesson, they’ll fly back home, learn to sing their hits in whatever key they can still work in. And, once they pass, they’ll turn them all into holograms. It’ll all be … an incredible bore. But it’s coming.
How can we stop it? Buy into enthusiasm. Take people who tell you that they’ve just fallen in love at their word and egg them on to write a song about it. That’s what’s happened when Kim & Dro met, and the results are fantastic.
“Haircut” is a beautiful punk-rock song because absolutely none of it is delivered with cynicism, and neither Kim nor Dro seems bored with the whole write, practice, and perform routine. It’s hard to argue against people who are so much in love with what they’re doing, and certainly very hard for anyone who isn’t quite this in love to replicate it.
Ketters – Witch
The really terrible thing is that the only musicians who used to bring in fantasy elements into their music wore velvet capes, came from Finland and were either part of a power metal group or a progressive band. Yuck!
But with little competition in the way of imaginative lyrics, you’d occasionally have to put aside just how shit these bands were and entertain their ideas about witches, demons, wizards and the kinds of creatures that make Northern Europeans not want to leave their houses during winter.
But the lines are being redrawn, concepts for songs are getting fewer, and musical groups of all types have to embrace the unknown. This is even true for stoned, party-loving punks like Ketters.
Erase the lyrics to “Witch,” and Ketters just sounds like a punk-rock band looking to start mayhem on a club stage on a Saturday night. Add the lyrics about getting lost in the woods, being lured to an evil lair, and possibly suffering the consequences, and you get something truly special. As for the Saturday show? No power mental D&D wizards allowed.
