Album Review: The Meatmen “Savage Sagas”
The Meatmen
Savage Sagas
Self Destructo Records
Review by Jacob Ray
One of the longest running American hardcore acts, The Meatmen, are putting out a new record on May 25th entitled Savage Sagas. The album is coming out on Self Destructo records and the band is touring throughout the western part of the U.S. to support the release, including an appearance at Punk Rock Bowling. The lineup on this record has been touring with Tesco Vee (the only remaining original member of the Meatmen) since about 2010 and this is the first Meatmen recording that anyone except for Tesco has been featured on.
available 5.27.2014
1. “Men O’ Meat”
2. “Dinosaur”
3. “I’m Gonna Fuck You Up”
4. “Pissed Hot For Weed”
5. “Death Rig 9000”
6. “Anna Moose”
7.”K K K”
8. “The Ballad of Stinky Penis”
9. “The Dwarves are the 2nd Greatest Band in the World”
10. “They Just Don’t Make ‘Em Anymore”
11. “Shecky Presents”
12. “It’s Amatuer Night at Uncle Bux Bikini Club”
13. “Speed Kills (But It Sho’ Feels Good)”
14. “Big Bloody Booger on the Bathroom Wall”
15. “Billy’s Birthday Surprise”
16. “Rock n’ Roll Enema”
17. “Pork Chop and a .22”
18. “12” Soft”
19. “Wizards of the Oblivion”
20. “The Guy”
The last Meatmen record that I listened to was Crippled Children Suck and I wasn’t really all that impressed by it and I kind of forgot about this band. I have decided that I need to revisit that stuff because in short, Savage Sagas, the latest Meatmen album is fucking awesome. The bands’ sound hasn’t really changed much, but the production on this record is obvioulsy much better than the production on Crippled Children Suck, which made it a little easier to listen to.
The album kicks off with an Intro track, just in case you forgot who the Meatmen are, or never knew in the first place. Then we get the track, “Dinosaur”. The lyrics are esentially Tesco Vee telling you how punk he is, and how he’s been that way for a long time and as far as the instrumentals go, it’s a little slower and a little less thrashy sounding than the rest of the album, particularly in comparison with the following track, “I’m Gonna Fuck You Up”.
The next song, “Pissed Hot For Weed” is a reminder for people like me, who live in places where marijuana use is pretty much encouraged, of what it’s like to live in less tolerant parts of the country. The metal influence is strong on this song and it is definitely one of the most catchy, and on one of my favorite, tracks on the album.
The metal madness continues with “Death Rig 9000” until “Anna Moose” where the Meatmen play with rockabilly influences. Many 20 song punk albums can get, understandbly, repetitive after about song 5, but this is not the case with Savage Sagas, especially with the comical subject matter. We get another hardcore jam, “K K K” which is probably my least favorite song on the record, because it doesn’t stand out on it’s own to the same extreme degree that most of the other songs do.
Then, we get “The Ballad of Stinky Penis”. It is an old west-style ballad about a fella with a stinky wang. It is pretty funny, the replay value isn’t that high, but it’s entertaining the first few listens. The Meatmen decided to add another song to their list of “diss tracks”. This time directed at the Dwarves, “The Dwarves are the Second Greatest Band in the World”. Now I’m not sure about the context, or how serious, or not, Tesco Vee is or what the relationship is like between the Dwarves and the Meatmen, so I’m just gonna assume it’s a fun jab. The diss track leads into the opposite, a poppy jam where Tesco lists a bunch of bands from the early-mid ‘80s that he likes, and how “They Don’t Make ‘Em Anymore”.
After a skit that is tied into the track we, the listeners, get a first hand account of a run down strip club full of morbidly obese women, “It’s Amatuer Night At Uncle Bux Binki Club”. Is this song (and others on the album) tasteless? Absloutely. But to quote one of my favorite comedians, Ben Roy, “You aren’t laughing because you condone the shit that I’m saying, you are laughing because it is funny”. It would be easy to be offended by songs like this, but if you did get offended by the graphic descriptions of the overweight strippers sagging breasts and promiscuity, then you made the mistake of taking Tesco seriously.
Then we get a speed metal song about, well, speed and how it’s a bad thing and a good thing at the same time. Tesco demonstrates how he may have grown up into an adult, but his lyrics sure as shit haven’t with “Big Bloody Booger on the Bathroom Wall”. This song is a little on the sludge-metal, Melvins-esque side of the metal spectrum. It is about how Tesco loves various bodily fluids, especially when found in places where they might make a less depraved human being expell a little vomit of their own. It’s heavy as hell and another one of my favorites on the album. We get another skit about a kid getting a toy version of the frontman of Negative Approach. “Rock N Roll Enema” is the second track on this record that doesn’t have as much character as the rest of the songs on this album. Not that it’s necessarily bad, but it isn’t as unique as the other ones and is as a result, fairly forgettable.
Killing dogs is almost a taboo in our society, which is kind of ironic considering how many dogs get put down in shelters every day but I digress. Tesco and company, explore (is that the right word?) this taboo In the song the old-timey rock song “Pork Chop and a .22” which is, cover your eyes dog lovers, about using a pork chop to bait a dog, so the character in the song can shoot it. Pretty brutal stuff. Then, we get another dong song, where Tesco tries out his Cockney accent, “12” Soft”. This is a straight-forward punk jam about a guy with a uselessly huge dong.
The last song on the album is a doom metal song about wizards. It’s kind of a weird song to put last, but I guess if you don’t like Sabbath-esque metal you can just end the record there, or maybe the Meatmen just didn’t want to go out on a song about a guy with a huge dick, I don’t know. There is one final skit where Tesco interacts with an overbearing fan and then the album comes to an end.
Punk has changed significantly since the Meatmen got their start. In 2014 we have so many great bands, putting out so many great records with things like concepts and literary allusions and Bad Religion still uses big, fancy, words a lot. In other words, there is a lot of substance these days, and we live in serious times, with the CIA spying on us, and recessions, and not to mention that the possibility of world war three has entered the conversation again, there is a lot of serious shit to write music about. Sure there are bands like Teenage Bottlerocket that put out really great, “just for fun” kind of songs but, I feel, that the element of being striaght up fuckin’ dumb and juvenile has kind of faded out of punk rock. The Meatmen brought some of that back with Savage Sagas, but unfortuanely, based off of the current climate in our little subculture, I don’t see it catching on as much as I think it deserves to.
Is it deliberatly offensive and sometimes outright tasteless? Sure. But music is supposed to challenge you, and if you are uncomfortable being confronted with a song about obese strippers, then maybe you need to lighten up a bit. I’m gonna be a total chode right now and say, Savage Sagas is the album that punk rock in 2014 needs but not the album that punk rock in 2014 wants. I like it though. It makes me wanna smoke weed and drink beers and skateboard.
Official
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Self Destructo Records
Tour Dates
Friday May 23 Denver CO @ the Marquis Theatre
Sunday May 25 Las Vegas @ Country Saloon/Punk Rock Bowling
Tuesday May 27 Phoenix AZ @ the Yucca Tap Room
Wednesday May 28 TBA
Thursday May 29 San Diego CA @ Soda Bar w/Black Fag
Friday May 30 Los Angeles CA @ Baldwin Park Vets Hall w/Black Fag
Saturday May 31 Long Beach CA @ Alex’s Bar w/Black Fag
Sunday June 1 Ventura CA The Garage w/Black Fag
Monday June 2 Santa Cruz @ The Catalyst
Tuesday June 3 Sacramento CA @ The Press Club
Wednesday June 4 Oakland CA @ Eli’s Mile High Club (21+)
Thursday June 5 Portland OR @ Branx w/SNFU
Friday June 6 Seattle WA @ El Corazon w/ SNFU
Saturday June 7 Spokane WA @ The Hop
Friday June 27 Chicago @ Reggies w/ Antiseen
Saturday June 28 St Louis TBA
Saturday July 26 Indianapolis Punks Dont Give A Fest Festival
About the Author
Denise Borders 39, Los Angeles. Denise founded PWV in 2008 and remains the primary manager and photographer/videographer. She is not secretly obsessed with Joey Cape.
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