New Blood

From the latest issue of MRR, here’s Robert Collins’ demo review of a great new Midwestern band to watch out for!

I pulled this out of the demo box at MRRHQ and knew I had to review it. Not because I thought it would be good, but rather because one look at the cover and I knew how awful it would be, and I reveled at the thought of hiding anonymously behind these newsprint pages and ripping to shreds the painstakingly crafted work of some punk kids thousands of miles away (news flash folks, that’s really why we do this, we get our jollies saying that your precious bands are horrible) and leaving them with shattered dreams and ink-stained fingers. Well, the joke’s on me this time, because that demo featuring the crudely drawn middle finger with two butt cheeks on the back of the hand and the title: Butthand AKA Street Legal… the demo fukkn rules! Male/female vocals (mostly female, and she sounds like Ivy from ALLERGIC TO BULLSHIT/MIAMI minus the rasp — totally bad ass), totally melodic, but fast as shit and with fukkn killer guitar work that will make you question why you ever bothered playing in a band — cause chances are you ain’t writing hooks like these, kiddo. I bet that live STREET LEGAL (or is it BUTTHAND? I really hope it’s BUTTHAND) has the same energy that NECRO HIPPIES did when they passed through a few months back — in fact the sound is not dissimilar, though STREET LEGAL/BUTTHAND are a bit more melodic. “Knocked Off My Feet Again” is a total classic, and the way the bass rushes in afterwards to start “Ode to You” is perfect… My only negative observation is the demo quality of the recording, but fukk me, it’s a demo and all the power is there so I’ll shut up. As I wipe the egg off my face, I strongly encourage you to drop them a line, and hopefully we can expect a slightly more high fidelity recording from them in the near future.