Easter ~ Easter (hits comp) (album review) ... When music was fun!

Style: pop rock, alt rock
Label: Martini Entertainment
Year: n/a
Home: California

Members: Danny Phillips (aka Danny Dean) ~ vocals/guitar
Chad Carrier ~ bass/b. vocals
Korky ~ drums/b. vocals

Additional ~ John Duffy ~ vocals/bass
Ethan James, Jerry Zaremba ~ n/a

Is there such a thing as fun bands anymore? The answer is, appropriately, yes. Though, I don't mean fun as in big hair & wild guitar playing ... I'm thinking something less pretentious & show off-ish ... nor do I mean fun as in Steel Panther over-the-top fun ... which is satirical fun. I mean, sing along pop rock that's a bit retro, a bit commercial, good for the radio whatever the station or audience, good for going down to the local pub to see once a month to drink some beers & do a little dancing to. Maybe a few covers in the set given a modern workout, maybe a hit in their repertoire that saw some MTV or heavy radio play once upon a time, so long ago that the band can barely remember it. A band whose drummer works in the local music store, having dumped college to make it with his band. & maybe even a reggae beat thrown in when the audience really gets wild. You know what I'm talking about? Think one of those little neighborhood bands that seem to be everywhere & play all the time & you wonder why you'd want to see them until you find yourself stumbling upon one of their shows & having a good time singing & dancing along ... & buying their homespun CD with the MTV hit on it. Easter was one of these bands, or at least they musically feel that way in retrospect. Their song "Manhattan Boy", even though their a California band but this might be a Manhattan Beach in reference, found some West Coast college radio play back in 1988 & some MTV play alongside "Lights Out." They do the obligatory cover in "Latest Flame", a wonderful Elvis tune by Doc Pomus more bands should cover. They've got the backing vocals happening to some fun lyrics about girls, boys & lands far away where there are more girls. The members have gone on to other numerous other bands of various styles & flavors, but still fondly remember those young naive Easter days where the music was a mix of Duran Duran sans the keyboards & retro surf echo-laced guitar solos ... & they called themselves punk & dressed the part, but the music is really far too tame & fun. This album brings together ten fun songs recorded in the late 80's before the band's break-up in 1990, plus four mixes of "Manhattan Boy" found on the original 12" single. Easter existed from 1984 to 1990 & their resume includes opening for Concrete Blonde, L.A. Guns, Wall of Voodoo & Sparks, & occasionally reuniting for a random show. Chad Carrier has since gone on to rockabilly/surf retro group Big Mess & the Celtic Shillahy Brothers, while Danny Phillips keeps the rockabilly/Cliff Richards guitar world alive & energized as the out of time Danny Dean & the Homewreckers. As for drummer Korky ... he's out there somewhere.

Big Mess ~ Big Mess (aka debut) (EP) (album review) ... Life goes on!

Style: punk, hard rock, surf
Label: Mess-O-Matic
Year: n/a
Home: California

Members: Chad Carrier ~ lead vocals/bass
Rex Bailey ~ guitar/b. vocals
Bernie Deal ~ drums/b. vocals

"A nuclear war is gonna be a real blast" sings frontman/songwriter Chad Carrier of Big Mess in "Life Goes On". At first this may sound like a horrid apocalyptical predication but just as apparent should be that the social criticism is held in check by lyrical wit & a large sense of fun. This brief line pretty much summarizes the attitude of punk/rock trio Big Mess. Part of the fun of the band is their comical visuals which I sadly can't relay here but I would encourage everyone to hunt up their video for "Pocket", the opener on this debut EP & a highlight ... that is as long as one only plays that one track as every song is a highlight. With Stooges like rhythms, but without the chaotic distorted wanderings, & even Stooges frontman Iggy Pop-like vocalizing the middle aged boys of Big Mess bring the fun back to punk through upbeat rhythms & social criticisms hid under tongue-in-cheek lyrical humor. Punk has often been seen as youthful with wild slashing guitars but that's forgetting that it's essentially about the attitude of loss felt at the hands of society that can supported by anyone of any age. But, punk is not quite an accurate label of Big Mess as they, without question, make for a great party band as their songs are short on guitar solos, heavy on memorable easy to remember riffs & sing-songy vocalization relying on Iggy Pop or Alice Cooper vocal variations different for each song which are fun to sing along with. But, while opener "Pocket" feels punk it's followed by "Feel Alright" that has an underlying surf riff & "Life Goes On" could be straight off of The Stooges's Funhouse. Iggy Pop might seem like an odd representation but his music is greatly underrated outside of music collectors/critics. When it comes to diversity of topics, fun yet serious & a party atmosphere Iggy is a leader ... & Big Mess is following his example, albeit I'm pretty sure they don't make a bigger mess by jumping into the audience with peanut butter. "Me Myself & I" opens with a dirty bass riff that's the most straight ahead rock sounding song in the collection. For it all to end unexpectantly with a jagged edged "Queen Bitch" by David Bowie that Big Mess have done such a good job at it took me a couple listens before I kept forgetting it wasn't their song.