Post by rtbuck on Jan 16, 2008 9:54:14 GMT -5
The Luchagors – The Luchagors
Label: Luchagors Music LLC.
Review by Bucky for Rock N Roll Universe
Did you ever purchase an album that you never heard but because the band name and/or album cover stood out? I know I have & this started for me in 1978 (surprisingly not with a Kiss album as I actually enjoyed their mid 70’s hits “R & R All Nite” & “Beth” without even knowing what the band looked like). Anyway,back in 1978 while looking for something new in a record shop I came across the debut album by Molly Hatchet, the band name & album cover really stood out for me. This started a new concept of album buying I didn’t even realize I had started. By the mid 80’s I was buying records by Elvis Hitler, The Circle Jerks, the Dead Kennedy’s, Guns & Roses, Anthrax, Killing Joke, the Butthole Surfers, & two of my favorites The Meatmen’s ‘We Are the Meatmen & You Suck’ & Gang Green’s ‘I81B4U’, not because I ever heard a note played by any of these bands but because the name &/or cover grabbed me. Thirty years later, I’m still doing the same thing as I started off the New Year with a post punk sounding band called the Luchagors. The name Luchagors hit home with me as it’s aspired from those crazy colorful masked professional wrestlers from Mexico, the Luchadors. Being a huge fan of professional wrestling I did hear of the Luchagors through the inner circles of the sports entertainment industry but never heard any of their music so when I came across their CD while surfing on www.cdbaby.com I had to check it out. The first thing that stood out was the CD cover which was reminiscent of the “Weird Tales” magazine (not to mention similar to the cool Ramones’ boxset,’Weird Tales of the Ramones & the popular Who bootleg ‘Weird Tales of the Who’).
Enough about the band’s name & album cover art; let’s get to the music provided to us by vocalist Amy Dumas, guitarist Shane Morton, bassist Jay Hedberg, & drummer Troy King. Overall if you’re into bands such as the Deadboys, Ramones, Plasmatics, Dead Kennedy’s, the Runaways, the Stooges, the Misfits, the Razzels, late 80’s Goo Goo Dolls(those infamous & probably now out of print first 2records), Gang Green & even ‘Kerplunk’ era Greenday than this is definitely a band to check out. The opening track “White Boy” & “Burn”( my favorite track on the album) would’ve fit in perfectly on the Dead Boys ‘Young, Loud, & Snotty’ album with the thumping rhythms &hard edged guitars while Amy sings as if she’s possessed by the demonic spirit of Stiv Bators. “Already Gone” is a garage rocker with catchy lyrics that will hook you in & have you singing along by the end of the first chorus. Drummer Troy King & bassist Jay Hedberg pound out a rhythm that sounds like a revved up & reworked intro to the Pretenders “Mystery Achievement” that crashes into a “should be” hit single complete with a catchy riff running through it & some band chanting “Heys” that will have you throwing your fist in the air. ”Janice” has a great blood curdling scream( sorry, but the best scream I’ve heard in years has to be Juliette Lewis’s on “Death of a Whore” but Amy’s is definitely right up there) & a great groove going on throughout the song. “Bastard” is probably the heaviest sounding fast paced rocker on the CD which shows an almost 80’s metal style by guitarist Shane Morton as Dumas sings “I’m a bastard, such a lovely bastard”. The CD closes with another heavy & fast paced rocker called “The March of the Luchadors” which clocks out at 1:53.
Every song on the album stands out on its own & definitely shows the band’s roots & what they are all about. The CD has 11 tracks with the longest song being the anthem sounding “Goodbye” which lasts 3:35. The quick raw energetic songs don’t leave much room to breathe but that’s one of the hooks about this album ”Betcha’ can’t listen to just one track!”. I miss seeing Amy Dumas performing in the squared circle as “Lita” in the WWE but listening to her, Shane, Jay, & Troy performing as the Luchagors I feel the same amount of electricity (maybe even more)
Bucky
www.myspace.com/theluchagors13
luchagors.com/indexx.html
cdbaby.com/cd/luchagors