4th December, 2008

JUSTIN MICHAEL

Album: Rock What You Got

Artist: Superchick

Year: 2008
Label: InPop
Web: www.superchickonline.com
 
In A Word: Guitar-heroes

"It's girl-power without the spice or the photo-opps."

Bring out the electonica garb, the station wagon sub-woofer, the laser light and recognise that you too could be found in a living room somewhere feeling empowered and playing your tennis racquet if you listen to this disc.

It's girl-power without the spice or the photo-ops. This is just straight-up shout-loud punk-pop-rock...with lots of guitar...and bass...fist pumping...um...yeah...that! (check the booklet for the broken guitar string shot with Dave).

There's sonic references to *cough* Marilyn Manson and Pink Floyd with the riff from Hey Hey, then there's the Lady Gaga-type sparkle of Rock What You Got or the Rogue Traders' vibe of So Beautiful. None of this is to say Superchick are copy-cats. Far from it - this band have been leading the genre for a few years now since their huge hit album Beauty From Pain.

The lyrics are full of hope and, well, attitude, really! For all the parents reading this, it's in the "good attitude" chapter of the parenting book. There is the prayer of Crawl - "O Lord, where are you? / Do not forget me / when all have left me / and hope has disappeared / you find me here"; the admission of frailty in Breathe - "Please tell me you'll fight this fight / I can't see without your light"; and, the simple fun of the closing track (for you and your tennis racquet), the tellingly-titled Dave Ghazarian: Guitar Hero. Yes, you know what to do!

Stand out tracks include the radio hit Stand In The Rain, the fist-pumping of Alive and the adrenaline supplement that is One More - "I am stronger than my fears / this is the mountain that I climb / got 100 steps to go / tonight I'll make it 99 / One more, go one more, yeah, yeah".

I've seen these guys live, I've got two of their discs and I like them. I'm off to dust of the tennis racquet.