Artist: Gunfire76
Title: Casualties and Tragedies
Type: Album
Label: DevCo Productions

Okay, I’ll come right out and say it; this is a Wednesday 13 band. There. Now, you have two options and either you read on or else chances are that you’ve already navigated off this page and begun looking for something less, well, erm…Wednesday. Gunfire76 was formed by the marmite-esque frontman so that he could do something a bit different to what he has become renowned for. That is, kitschy shock-rock-goth-glam with lyrics about dead things, while this is much more about simple, good-time rock and roll. The album kicks in with ‘Let’s Kill The Hero’ which will have you on your feet and bouncing with its rocking, upbeat rhythm and effortless guitar solo work.

This still has an element of fun to it, and lyrically coated with a layer of cheese with such lines as ‘We’ll have a rock and roll casualty tonight’ though by no means is this as tongue-in-cheek as his other stuff. ‘Los Angel-less’ speaks about the vacuous glitz vs. the cesspool of LA which is a good enough theme although surely it has already been done to death. I guess that is the problem with this album really. It’s not an awful album and by no means is it unlistenable, but this is all stuff that has been done before and to a much better standard. This has that Scuzz-friendly vibe that you’d probably expect, and given the sudden fascination with retro glam in the form of Steel Panther, there’s a good chance that this will be welcomed by that age group that is most likely to appreciate Wednesday.

‘Rocket To Nowhere’ has a really fun, carefree vigour to it that I like, and is laced with some slinky solos while the guitars on ‘Tell You Like It Is’ have a hint of The Stones about them. I can’t help but notice the pop-punk riffage on ‘Nothings All I Need’ which while catchy with a rollicking groove also feels very light and as sun-soaked as a LA surfer dude. If you are a fan of Wednesday 13 then you may find this lacks too much of the stomp and the humour to really appeal to you and make this seem like more than just a watered down version of what he has done before. Certainly, those who don’t like his other stuff are advised to avoid, but it’s not a bad effort and I’d encourage you to at very least check them out on MySpace.

http://www.myspace.com/gunfire76

Luci Herbert

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