Given Brooklyn hardcore punk band Gay For Johnny Depp are fairly upfront in their intention to push the boundaries, from the eyebrow raising band or classy song titles such as ‘Sex in your mouth’, ‘Cumpassion’ and ‘Shh, put the shiv to my throat’. Add music stylings akin to The Locust, Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower and Pissed Jeans, it was always going to be rollercoaster ride listening to the new album ‘What Doesn’t Kill You, Eventually Kills You.’ On their latest output they once again deliver a bizarre box of goodies that doesn’t compromise this vision.
“The record is the sound of children being thrown from a carney carousel. A caffeinated, incorporated cog in the machinery…naked aggressive, nightly news-ish and stress related. Album of the Year (1989)” – Gay For Johnny Depp
In a nutshell, 11 tracks of varying levels of audio assault squeezed into a 21 minute timeframe. Easy listening, maybe not, but for the open minded it more than delivers hefty doses of thrills and spills in it’s brief running time. Rarely going anywhere near convention and not ones to be accused of resting on their laurels, GFJD kick and spit their way through several genres before throwing them all in a pot along with a decent helping of anger and boiling each track on full power for 2 minutes. There is very little time for the listener to breathe, each track rattles along with Marty Leopard (Arty Shepherd – Instruction / God Fires Man) screeching, wailing and often singing in falsetto vocals laced with liberal dashings of expletives. Just as you recover from one track you are swiftly violated by the next. That said, this album has taken some tentative steps in diluting their sound. Whilst there is nothing as immediate as ‘Belief In God Is So Adorable’ from The Politics Of Cruelty there are several tracks that really standout with ‘Suckcess’ and ‘Nine Inch Males (Born To Hate) being prime examples. The most surprising thing about this album for me is just how much I’ve grown from quite liking it to adoring it. To be fair, any album that features the lyric ‘Pick up that guitar and talk to me’ is always going to get a thumbs up from regardless of how far that tongue is pushed in its cheek.
