Search - Paybacks :: Harder & Harder

Jessica G. (Jessie) from GLENOLDEN, PA
Reviewed on 6/21/2007...

Garage rock with a gritty female lead singer

Detroit: Where The Weak Are Killed And Eaten...

Clark Paull | Murder City | 10/28/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Musical accompaniment on a recent jaunt straight up I-75 to the wilds of northern Michigan was provided courtesy of the "Shrek 2" soundtrack (Pete Yorn covering the Buzzcocks' "Ever Fallen In Love"? - I think I feel sick.) and my wife's Norah Jones and Dave Matthews Band CD's (ditto). As if that wasn't enough to send a mere mortal to be fitted for a straight white vest, there was also the news that New York Dolls bassist Arthur "Killer" Kane, recently revitalized and sounding better than ever during a series of reunion shows, had died from leukemia, the revelation that Roger Daltrey was embracing the corporate dollar by appearing on an infomercial pushing Time-Life's latest 70's classic rock collection, and the happenstance discovery of Alice Cooper's mug on a can of Miller Genuine Draft at a gas station convenience store. I'm not sure what upset me more - the fact that Miller and "Rolling Stone" are using the 50th anniversary of rock and roll to push their respective products or the irony of Cooper being a dedicated Budweiser man back in the '70s, drinking a case of the suds every day.



When I got home, I found the new Paybacks album had landed in my mailbox.



There really is a God...



Here's where I usually get in trouble. Wendy Case has whatever the female equivalent of testicular fortitude is, the former "Detroit News" entertainment scribe packing it all in for a chance to grab the brass ring or at the very least, a cathartic opportunity to plug in, turn up, breathe stale cigarette smoke, stew in her own sweat, and sleep in her clothes.



2002's "Knock Loud" was nothing short of a cocksure roar of satisfaction, seething with ire and vitriol and smelling faintly of the barmaid's apron, Case attempting to splatter her larynx against all four studio walls and drummer Mike Latulippe, bassist John Szymanski, and guitarist Marco Delicato firing on all fours. It's one helluva beautiful wreck and in "Just You Wait," "Hollywood," "If I Fell," and "Don't Lay It On Me," contains four songs which easily stand up to anything to come out of D-town (or Hamtramck - basically the beating rock and roll heart in Detroit - for that matter) since The Mutants, The Torpedos, Elvis Hitler, and See Dick Run roamed the earth.



Although two years on this dismal rock have come and gone since the release of "Knock Loud," the band hasn't lost a step despite the amicable exit of Delicato. Danny Methric (ex-Muggs and Kingsnakes) has stepped in seamlessly on lead and as a result, "Harder And Harder" is hotter than a Death Valley barbecue, an avalanche of great songs delivered with blunt simplicity and tattooed with the breathless, God-given rasp of Case.



Unfortunately for Case, dogged comparisons to Chrissie Hynde, Janis Joplin, and, in some quarters, Slade's Noddy Holder, seem to be her cross to bear but it's probably safe to say none of them have ever purged their soul as Case does on "Today And Everyday," Methric's chicken-peck intro setting up a confession booth-worthy outpouring ("I just want the same things that you do/Somebody to hold me, someone I can hold on to") that had this hack reaching for both an air guitar to flail and a beer to cry into. That's the sound of my youth disappearing. Although over much too soon at 1:45, this is where the planets magically align for The Paybacks.



Latulippe and Szymanski grab the stop-and-start "Me" by the scruff of the neck and make it swing, Case with THAT VOICE , grunting like she's clearing an obstructed bowel before Methric, waiting patiently, chimes in on the breaks with malicious intent, a loose cannon loaded with equal parts Steve Jones, Ace Frehley, and Johnny Thunders. With all apologies to Strummer and Jones, he's my guitar hero.



"When I'm Gone," "Bright Side,"and "Scotch Love" are all red meat and arteries bursting wide open and grey matter boiling in flame, Case in the driver's seat and makin' love with the lights on along the way, perplexed about the stupefying powers of alcohol but never trying to answer the questions of the universe. "Lazy Things" cribs the stomping, chest-baring riff from The Cult's "Wildflower" (via Angus and Malcolm Young), turns it upside down and gives it a good swift kick in the cajones and when Case tells you you're going skinny dipping in the creek, you'd better get ready to drop trou.



Although "Harder And Harder's" production (by the band with help from John Smerek) is bone, gristle, and popping veins held together with sinew and hits harder than a Jack White sucker punch, it's Case's willingness to wear her heart on her sleeve, as well as various parts of her anatomy, and the band's single-minded devotion to beating their instruments to a bloody pulp that make it shake and shimmy. And let's face it, ending on an up note - a ragged, boisterous cover of Marc Bolan's "Celebrate Summer," featuring a gloriously punchdrunk solo from Methric - doesn't hurt either.



Despite critical plaudits (some would argue hype) flying the way of Detroit's much ballyhooed "garage rock scene" (quotes are mine) over the past few years, it's taken The Paybacks to finally give it some street cred, firmly planting their flag up its arse and in turn delivering the first great album to come out of this ham-and-egg, shot-and-a-beer burg this millennium.



Let this be the soundtrack to your life before some major beer company snaps 'em up for an ad campaign."

Follow up albumn is as solid as the first

John Mack | Phoenix, AZ USA | 09/25/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I stumbled on these guys as an opening act in Seattle by accident. What a great stumble! EVERY track is tight and rocks. No pop b.s., no filler. Straight rock. I have played this sucker over and over and never grow tired of them.



See them live if you get the chance too."