Rock Star God
(Sub Pop)
Have the Makers really sold out? If so, are they better for it? The Spokane, Washington brats officially split the garage-punk playground after four LPs of lo-fi, Troggs-inflected scree when they released 1998’s pallette-expanding Psychopathia Sexualis. That record elicited howls of “sell-out!” and “glam rock poseurs!” from devotees of the band’s early sides, who will most likely blanch upon hearing Rock Star God, probably refusing to even utter the band’s name for the rest of their lives.
A cryin’ shame those folks are so closed-minded, though, because RSD is the work of a band in control. Despite reading like a Moody Blues record--a “55-minute conceptual recording” complete with “Intro”, “Outro”, and Parts 1 & 2 --- it actually rocks with gusto, and calling these musings on fame, sex, morality and mortality a “song cycle” is far more accurate.
Only the twin caterwauls of “I’m A Concrete Wall” and “Too Many Fuckers (on the streets)” retain the keys to The Makers’ garage rawk. The album turns instead to clear, big production, mid-period-Stones lullabies, (“Texture of a Girl”, “God’s Playing Favorites”) New York Dolls-style vamps (“When We Was Gods”, “Sex Is Good Food”) and wry humor typified by “A Better Way Down”, which counsels a potential rock star suicide to “try to look good, have fun with it...it’s the last cool thing you’ll ever do”.
Making this hi-fi Makers move is Micheal Maker, leering from the polished rock sound to ham up the Jagger/Johansen role; belting, bragging and breaking down better than ever before. Here Maker proves Psychopathia Sexualis was no fluke... the dude can really sing! The band proves they can really play, too. In fact, if the Makers keep selling out like this, the title of this record’s not gonna be a concept, it’s gonna be a prophecy. What does it matter if its spelt r-o-c-k or r-a-w-k? Your ass is still moving, right?
Time Out New York, 2000
Showing posts with label Makers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Makers. Show all posts
7.3.08
Makers
live @ Metro Cafe 5.21.2000
Seattle, Washington-based rockers The Makers early reputation was made in part by live shows that frequently ended in fisticuffs---often beginning when the audience attempted to pummel the band’s singer after he had insulted them one time too many. Nobody punched Michael Maker at the Metro Cafe Sunday night, but by the end of their thrilling set, the singer and his band were so drenched with sweat it looked as if they had endured a 12-round bout.
Touring behind their new Sub Pop Records’ album “Rock Star God”--a startling shift in sound that has more in common with the 1969 Rolling Stones than original Makers’ garage-rock models like The Sonics--the hour-long set balanced the old and new Makers’ personalities with galvanizing abandon.
Bassist Don Virgo and drummer Jay Amerika provided the requisite crotch-throb rhythms throughout the set, but it was guitarist Jamie Jack Frost’s roaring power chords that provided sonic fuel for songs like “Razorblade” and “Sex Is Good Food”, allowing frontman Maker to soar. Howling and convulsing, climbing atop the speaker cabinets and along the bar, gulping the audience’s drinks, Maker was the consummate rock frontman, evoking Mick Jagger and Ian Svenonius with aplomb.
One especially exciting title the Makers performed is unsuitable for a family newspaper, but “(Are You On The Inside Or The Outside Of Your) Pants”, “Looking For A Supergirl” and “Better Way Down” all bristled under the band’s whipcrack control of dynamics. Despite claims from garage-rock purists that The Makers have sold out, their performance revealed instead a rock band that has grown by retaining their early power, while shedding their adolescent singlemindedness for a more focused perspective. The result was a near-flawless set of no-frills rock and roll.
Washington Post, May 2000
Seattle, Washington-based rockers The Makers early reputation was made in part by live shows that frequently ended in fisticuffs---often beginning when the audience attempted to pummel the band’s singer after he had insulted them one time too many. Nobody punched Michael Maker at the Metro Cafe Sunday night, but by the end of their thrilling set, the singer and his band were so drenched with sweat it looked as if they had endured a 12-round bout.
Touring behind their new Sub Pop Records’ album “Rock Star God”--a startling shift in sound that has more in common with the 1969 Rolling Stones than original Makers’ garage-rock models like The Sonics--the hour-long set balanced the old and new Makers’ personalities with galvanizing abandon.
Bassist Don Virgo and drummer Jay Amerika provided the requisite crotch-throb rhythms throughout the set, but it was guitarist Jamie Jack Frost’s roaring power chords that provided sonic fuel for songs like “Razorblade” and “Sex Is Good Food”, allowing frontman Maker to soar. Howling and convulsing, climbing atop the speaker cabinets and along the bar, gulping the audience’s drinks, Maker was the consummate rock frontman, evoking Mick Jagger and Ian Svenonius with aplomb.
One especially exciting title the Makers performed is unsuitable for a family newspaper, but “(Are You On The Inside Or The Outside Of Your) Pants”, “Looking For A Supergirl” and “Better Way Down” all bristled under the band’s whipcrack control of dynamics. Despite claims from garage-rock purists that The Makers have sold out, their performance revealed instead a rock band that has grown by retaining their early power, while shedding their adolescent singlemindedness for a more focused perspective. The result was a near-flawless set of no-frills rock and roll.
Washington Post, May 2000
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