You hear a band is from Austin, Texas and the stereotypes kick in. Cowboy hats, honky tonks, Wranglers, fishing with the boys at the creek – all that stuff.
Yeah. Right.
If I told you The Oxys were formed by Jason “Ginchy” Kottwitz – who also acts as producer and songwriter here – and that among the bands he’d been in were the mighty Dead Boys, then we’re getting close.
Opener “Poison Apple” begins in a hail of feedback and snotty riffing of the type I’ve been drawn to since Backyard Babies crashed into my life in the late 90s. All low-slung guitar solos with straps around their ankles and sniffing glue. Yet even here there’s just a touch of keyboard to add a little sheen.
I probably wouldn’t buy a 99 from “Mr Softee” – and the lyrics apparently come from a place of reality. Phil Davis, the band’s frontman, had a great uncle known as the Butcher of Elmendorf.
“Long Shadows” and “Idiot Box” pass by in a blur of anger. “Living your life through a tiny screen,” spits Davis (not sure I should admit I’m writing this on my phone?). But the feeling that this is all a little unsettling and dark – like The Misfits say – is never far away. It’s right there as we “make sure the alligator’s fed” on “Eaten Alive.” At four and a half minutes it’s positively prog rock for this collection too.
“Demons” races about like a hyperactive kid on Christmas morning. “Running from the demons you can’t catch,” they spit. The Oxys are winning, trust me.
When they add keyboards, as they do on the sensational “Poison In The Heart,” it moves the sound into a power pop-ish sphere. But by and large “Pearls Before Swine” lives and dies on its guitar. Gloriously trashy sounds abound everywhere, but “Not Gonna Die” even recalls Vain (and praise gets no higher).
“Toe Tag Lovers” offers that “the smell of death is in the air,” and the whole thing feels a little macabre. Even in the slowest one here, “Drop Of Blood,” the horror motif is there.
But then, rock ’n’ roll never got anywhere by being nice – and very few bands embody rock ’n’ roll better than The Oxys do on “Pearls Before Swine.”
Rating: 8/10
