“To all those that have run the gauntlet to avoid the dive bomber – this is for you.”
With apologies to the SPCA, I admit my first time firing a weapon at something other than a stationary target followed an experience running from a pair of those thieving black and white crows. The result was less than ideal; a hole in my screen door and two wily bastards cackling as they flew into the sunset, free to reek havoc another day.
It’s about time someone took a stand against our feathered oppressors, and who better than Auckland outfit, the Glocks, with their refreshingly 80’s rock and growl sound. In saying that, I wouldn’t mind seeing the chick on the cover kicking magpie butt, if only because her backless singlet top doesn’t look supportive enough to fully restrain a girl of her calibre.
This black, white and red epic harkens back to that colourful decade where the bass guitar was a legitimate lead instrument instead of just a rumbling in the background. Magpie Genocide mixes the Clash’s nonchalant rock with the pop of Bowie’s less experimental work. Is it wrong to say a band sounds like what Morrissey would sound like if Morrissey didn’t suck?
The sound is fluid and consistent, as if four guys walked into a bar and played the album start to finish. And although consistent, each song has its own twist on the rock genre. It’s not one of those 38 minute continuations of the same song, where the band changes the lyrics and progression every three minutes but the sound remains the same.
To illustrate, “Red Light”, sexy and sultry with a bit of pelvic grind, conjures “Goodbye Horses,” Q Lazzarus’s one hit wonder, more commonly known as the song Buffalo Bill does the peepee dance to in Silence of the Lambs. “Running to You”, rocky and hard hitting, sounds more like the Sex Pistols if they had actually learnt to play their instruments.
Have you dodged a magpie attack? Have you ever felt like you were sleeping with an alien? Have you ever felt cheated? Have you been to Amsterdam or want to or, by extension, watched a shop assistant changing the clothes of a mannequin in a shop’s front window? Have you ever watched a band in a bar and liked it? Were you alive in the 80’s?
If any of the above applies to you, then this album is for you. If not… You need to stop downloading music and go buy this CD from an actual store, in the real world. It will be a good opportunity to practice avoiding magpies and bent cops as well as a good way to support New Zealand music.
The Glocks are a rock and growl band writing and playing original music that has an 80's type rock new wave vibe. The songs are punctuated with irreverant humerous, sometimes dark sometimes sleazy lyrics, growling guitars and cool pop hooks.