Kill the Hippies Special Master cassette
Not to be confused with the 1978 DEADBEATS album, or the 2013 Kill the Hippies! Kill Yourself compilation, this group comes from Cleveland and has been making music since the early ’90s. This version of the band features the paired-down threesome of Morte Treehorn on guitar and vocals, P.P. Envy on bass and vocals, and Joey Pepperoni on drums, and while they’ve been at it for a minute, there’s still plenty of energy on the table here. The falsetto on “Single Prayer System” reminds of something the ADICTS might have done, while other tracks bring to mind local forefathers DEVO, and the alternating male/female vocals provide a nice variety throughout. “Defective” slaps the hardest, and reminds of any charging GBH track. There’s a pretty straightforward cover of “New England,” which kind of comes out of nowhere, but has a funny spoken word opener “Well, I live in Ohio so why should I care? / But I just happen to like it there / So I guess I’m just a square.” I haven’t gone through KILL THE HIPPIES’ whole catalog, but I like what I hear. And don’t be fooled, no part of this is promoting violence. Listen up!