One of my oldest friends, Sam, called me and said he was recording this band called Bazooka Christ that I had to check out. With such a name, I could hardly say no; but in checking out an EP by a bunch of teenagers and recorded in my friend's bedroom in Warren, Maine, I wasn't expecting anything they played to be cooler than their name (which is obviously awesome).
Fuck me, I was wrong. These guys rip. Hard. The sound is akin to Municipal Waste getting drunk with early `80s-era Black Flag and writing some really fun, really pissed off punk/hardcore. Their debut EP, No Parents, No Rules, is five songs of teenage angst and anger that will make you chuckle, bang your head, and occasionally be knocked back into place by an unexpected turn.
Musically, the band shows maturity and youth all at the same time. The drumming of Z-Rex is really nothing to brag about, but he isn't hurting the band at all. The head of the band, Queasly, shows some serious guitar work with good progressions, smart riffs, and ripping solos that show he has paid attention to Randy Rhodes as well as Greg Ginn; this is all shown quite well in the first track of the EP, "Get Off My Lawn."
No Parents, No Rules clocks in at just under six minutes with five tracks, and for being recorded in a bedroom, it sounds really fucking good. "Puke Party" is a song that makes me wish lyrics had been included in the liner notes, as the chorus begs to be shouted back at the band, if only I could tell what Queasly was yelling (it sounds something like "This ain't no horror story, this is the Puke Party!!"). The band hits their stride (both in length, 1:30, and songwriting) with the centerpiece and title track of the EP, but it is the hardcore leanings of the final track, "Post Modern Man," which really made me give an honest FUCK YES. The chorus of "I fucking hate you! I fucking hate you!" would be funny if it wasn't so plain fucking awesome.
Come to think of it, that's a great way to describe Bazooka Christ as a whole -- a band that you really don't want to take seriously, but the more of a chance you give them, the more you are going to love the shit out of them.