Oslovian guttersnipes Kosmik Boogie Tribe may not be about to indulge in sordid bouts of Arachnid coitus; However they do appear to be interested in rocking, a far more healthy activity if I might say, and an interest which they’ve managed to turn into gold on this fast and furious little album.
This Norwegian quintet are deeply rooted in seventies heavy rock – Status Quo are a persistent intruder into the songs on WNHTFS, although second track Optical Migraine does venture as far forward as 1982 to inject a little of ZZ Top’s Eliminator, thus adding a frisson of ‘modernity’ to proceedings.
We’ve Got the Cash adds some neat slide guitar into the mix, giving a bit of Rose-tinted muscle to the AC/DC riffage if you see what I mean, but it’s not all entirely derivative material on offer here…
… Actually it is, but then of course this is only rock n’roll we’re talking about and there’s only so much you can add to a genre that’s sounded like this since 1974. That said, Pablo Was Here has a bit more personality to it, documenting the trouble the band had getting to a gig in Belgium (where, doubtless it was bedlam), and the guitars of Eirik Melstrøm and Morten Lunde work up to a delirious crescendo as the song ends.
The spiky Looking Out For Number One (featuring the chorus line ‘you’re such a cunt’) mixes Status Quo with Aussie pub rock a la The Angels to create a stinging blues-filled riot of denim outrage and faux-punk snottiness, and, though you really have heard this stuff all before, it’s pretty much impossible to resist taking a turn round the living room while it’s blasting out from the speakers. Rock n’roll was made to be enjoyed, and this is some of the most enjoyable rock n’roll I’ve heard in a while.
I’ve Had Enough of You has more of a Ramones/New York Dolls feel, and is a bit of a belter, being less bluesy and just straight up nasty. Especially the little bit of Stairway to Heaven they throw in as a tease at the end. Penultimate track The Rat gets deeper into the punk end of things, sounding like it wishes it had been written in time to make the first Damned album, whilst final track Piss, Punk and Pie sums up the band’s three-pronged design for life so much more appositely than I ever could.
Looking back over this review, I realise it just reads like a list of other bands that Kosmik Boogie Tribe remind me of; However when you realise that on their last album the band wrote a song and named it in honour of Aussie pub rock legend Lobby Loyde it seems kinda right to push that angle. This is an album that’s as vital as they come, and irresistibly relevant even though it incorrigibly and joyously tributes the music of past times. Just immerse yourselves and enjoy.
We’re Not Here to Fuck Spiders is out now.
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