Red Light Rippers - Nobody Likes A Rat (Fading Ways, UK)

Fresh out of the box, the ‘Red Light Rippers’ are here to stamp their mark right on your forehead and make you realise that there is more to Canada than Chad Kroger’s floppy locks and strange women that sing on the end of sunken ships. Gnarly tight riffs are base driven with intense gravelly vocals that are sleazy but still keep a sweet pop punky glam melody.

The fun “Drag Race” is the shortest track but sets a really upbeat pace for the rest of the album. You can imagine the kids in a mosh pit bouncing off the walls to this bass driven assault. Ending with a crash, next up is “Trailer Trash Trixie”.

“TTT” kicks out at the typical girly poser types that can generally be found at gigs and on the arms of musicians far too often. It’s a venomous song with catchy lyrics that will stick in your head to the extent you’ll be humming it in packed elevators.

“Addicted” is the RLR’s strongest track. Bass driven before ripping (pardon the pun) into gravelly riffs drag you into its charms. An excellent solo 3/4's of the way through which sounds quite psychedelic but at the same time, incredibly raw - surfy sounding sleaze at its finest. Lyrics like “took a while for me to quit it, but I did it/I am Addicted” are fuelled with drug addiction recovery, but anyone who’s had any kind of addiction (whether it be drink, drugs, lust - hell, you could probably even apply it to chocolate) can connect to this song. Its safe to say “Addicted” is another one you’ll struggle to push out of your head.

Starting with a grinding base, “I Get The Feelin”s sleazy riffage kicks in and dares you to nod your head for 3 minutes.

“Pills” is a song that will make you smile ... its also a cover, but they do it damn well. It’s a song about nurses and drugs - but not just any old nurse - a ‘rock n’ roll’ nurse!. Humming into a harmonica, the bluesy sleaze bits make it a very catchy song. I’d dare anyone to hate this song. Its got lyrics like “To my head/To my head/ The Rock N Roll nurse goin’ to my head/ To my head/ To my head/ while I was lying in a hospital bed”. Conceptually dirty and crisp sounding and attributes well to the album.

“Let’s Go” sounds a little flat in places but that is only because the previous tracks are so upbeat and catchy. Its worth listening to it all the way through as it serves as a good lead up into “This Dog”.

The ripping (2nd pun) scrapping, barking (pun the 3rd) “This Dog” kickstarts ‘NLAR’ again with driving riffs. There’s something distinctly ‘Crue’ like about “This Dog”. The bit that will make you chuckle is mid track guitar solo where Rip barks with other dog noises, then howls! Much like a lot of the tracks on this album - catchy and fun.

“C’mon Baby” and “Freakshow” turn up the glammy sleaze a bit further. “C’mon baby” quietens down for a little bass solo then breaks into a swaggering guitar solo that’s very satisfying. “Beat Down” ends the album nicely and leaves off where it started. Nod your head for the final three minutes as the grinding poppy sleaze lyrics dig their claws in for the last time.

I can’t wait to hear what the RLR sound like live as on recording, they’ve got a very tight sound that has a real raw charm about it. Unlike some of new material trying to break through onto the sleaze scene, they’re not a chore to listen to - they’re enjoyable, catchy and wonderfully dirty. They’re not trying to reinvent a genre. From the tracks on ‘NLAR’ they have all the elements of glam and punk but rinse them with a healthy dose of gravelly hard rock and sleaze.

Taking a UK release label is a smart one but the album availability appears to be restricted to the Fading Ways UK website. It will be a travesty if “Nobody Likes a Rat” slips under the radar. A gravelly rare gem indeed.

For fans of: Brides of Destruction, Crash Kelly, The Erotics, Guns N’ Roses, Jack Viper, Motley Crue, Robin Black

Tracklisting:
1. “Drag Race”
2. “Trailer Trash Trixie”
3. “Addicted”
4. “I Get The Feelin”
5. “Pills”
6. “Let’s Go”
7. “This Dog”
8. “C’mon Baby”
9. “Freakshow”
10. “Beat Down”

Touring the UK in April, check their official site for details - www.redlightrippers.com and add them to your MySpace www.myspace.com/redlightrippers for a listen to some of the album’s tracks and a download of ‘Addicted’. Also, check out the Rippers interview with Pure Rawk on the interviews page. Moreover, buy the album: www.fadingways.co.uk

© Pure Rawk 2006