Every now and then a band comes along and reminds us what rock and roll is all about. It’s not spending ten thousand dollars on the right microphone, wasting two weeks in a studio getting a guitar solo just right, or having all the red M&M’s picked out of your candy dish backstage.

It’s about rocking. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you Hog Molly.

Tad Doyle (yes, from TAD!) is back and he’s not taking names this time. After his first band got dropped from Warner Brothers in ’94, Tad’s been regrouping. The band, even without a major label deal, continued to grind until 1999 when they finally called it quits. Tad (the band) was known for being loud, sweaty, slow and low rock and roll. Hog Molly is all that and more.

I love albums that sound like they were recorded live. I know that “Kung Fu Cocktail Grip” probably wasn’t, but it sounds like it was. It has the same production sound that Rollin’s “The End of Silence” did – like four guys just showed up in the studio, kicked ass, and left. The guitars are loud and loose, the bass drives right up the middle, the drumming is frenzied, and of course Tad’s vocals are right out front. The songs are mostly riff-driven, with the riffs divided up between guitar and bass.

So what does a band with a 300+ pound lead singer/bass player sound like? Exactly how you think it would. Heavy, sweaty, sticky, sludge rock. Don’t expect samples or drum machines on this disc, Hog Molly is bringing straight forward rock and roll back to the masses. The lyrics are fairly light-weight – there’s songs about racing, drinking, partying, fighting, and a few other vices. One of my favorite songs is “Short Bus,” where Tad points out that there’s “No stress on the short bus,” so just “take a tip from the kids on the short bus, they always wave.”

I always felt Tad’s biggest problem was that they got thrown in with the grunge scene because they were from Washington. There’s nothing in this music that sounds like Pearl Jam or Nirvana.

Rock is coming back, and Hog Molly is leading the charge. Definately pick this disc up – it’s perfect music to dance, drive, and fight to.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 at 12:16 pm and is filed under Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.