:: Spiderbait - Tonight Alright

Spiderbait

Most of us would have heard Black Betty by now. The first single lifted from ‘Tonight Alright’, it’s initial release met with a fair bit of scepticism and general reservation and yet within weeks it was number one on the mainstream charts. I mention it now, cause it’s highly indicative of what to expect here, the ragged riffy reworking of Huddie Ledbetter’s classic blues stomp slots in perfectly alongside the remainder of the tracks on ‘Tonight’s Alright’, the remainder of which are all Spiderbait penned. Recorded in Weed, California in an old converted theatre, Kram, Whitt and Janet have made no effort to conceal their punk/metal-pop roots. Bursting at the seams with savage bouts of incensed ‘square peg in a round hole’ drumming overlayed with a thick frenzy of riffs, crunchy power chords and fuzzy staccato bass grooves, the album forges on relentlessly. Track 9 ‘Tonite’ lets up momentarily with some lightly panned vocals splayed out across a comparatively minimalist canvas, but track 10 ‘Alright’ quells that immediately, kicking back in like a chainsaw. You’ve heard the expression “a walk in the park”, well this album is a heavily distorted bluesy strut through Purgatory.

Note: Evan Alexander is a freelance journalist, an accredited composer/songwriter, frontman for Brisbane Alt/Indie Rock outfit AGE 6 and a solo performer. Contact Evan via Heapsaflash Music at heapsaflash@hotmail.com