Dash Rip Rock - Recyclone

Genre rock Publisher Alternative Tentacles Records External Links Official Website Alternative Tentacles

Kids love the zoo, almost as much as action figures or ovens that warm up food with a light bulb. At the zoo, kids get an up close look at all the animals in their books, by seeing the rank penguin exhibit and hippos wading in pools of their own filth.

Generally, the animals just stand around, or on a good day not only do they stand around, but they also eat. If you want to get the real experience of an animal, you have to see it in its natural habitat, hunting for food, mating, all the good stuff. Could you imagine little Timmy gingerly walking up behind a pride of lions feasting on a fresh gazelle?

For some bands, hearing them only on CD is like seeing an animal in the zoo; it can be a boring experience (unless that band is eating a gazelle on record). Dash Rip Rock falls into that category, as the prominent bar band is apparently a sight to behold live with loads of drunken revelers of their music, their recorded works do no justice to the experience they are in concert.

Recyclone is a compendium of Dash Rip Rock's best tracks over their 20 year existence, full of loud, crowd pleasing bar rock that sets the tone for a wild night. Most tracks are seen through an alcohol fueled haze, with lyrics that are just there for nonsensical texture ("If I had a Yugo I'd drive it through Hurricane Hugo") layered upon bouncy guitar patterns that sound oddly familiar to any dive bar frequenter.

On record, Dash Rip's tracks all sound similar: the driving beat, subject matter, and loud dirty guitars formed through two decades of dive bar and festival shows paid out in gas money and cases of Budweiser. Only two tracks, the sweet "Eventually Evangeline" and the jangling "Marsupial," are conscious efforts to entice a wider audience, but one thinks the band simply does not care about what others think of their music (critics included). They are here to rock and roll, have a good time and try and forget about the real world and all of its burdens, plus they seem perfectly happy with the party lifestyle their music invites.

Dash Rip Rock's combination of old school rockabilly and southern rock along with Bill Davis' vocal delivery, similar to that of Jackyl or Ugly Kid Joe, isn't for the faint of heart. The perfect situation would include a pair of stonewashed jeans, boots, a nice trough to urinate in, and a dingy bar on the cusp of town. Recyclone is a nice starter kit for the uninitiated, but the true encounter is to catch them feasting on a gazelle at your local watering hole.