The prize for longest time between albums must surely go to Brazil's Bad Luck Gamblers. Their first album "Don't Bet On Us" was released back in 2007 for Jaysus sake. Now that they've finally got off their arses and went back in to the studio, was it worth the wait? Too fuckin' right it was. The first album was a rough diamond...this is a finely polished one. There's no letup at all with the tempo of this thing. It's all speed limit breaking stuff. Maniacal is the word I'm looking for. I can here a twist of that Reverend Horton Heat guitar sound mixed in with some South American overtones. The trio of musicians extraordinaire have unleashed an album with 10 ditties of musical dexterity that feature some nice touches in the studio which make the listener sit up and take notice. The chord progressions give the songs the gold medal winning honours of being excellently executed psycho-rockabilly with an air of malevolence. The Bad Luck Gamblers make me proud to be part of a scene where real talent is order of the day, unlike the auto-tuned, rehashed, unoriginal over-produced bollocks that clogs up the airwaves to placate the millions of mass media brainwashed sheep that think Little Mix are a "band".
Ever since Jeroen Haamers and the boys touched my ears inappropriately back in 1985, I've always felt that Batmobile were/are thee quintessential purveyors of that European psychobilly/neo rockabilly sound. Then when they came out with their fanzine solely aimed at the Irish audience, Bonk O'Beat, well, that was it for me. Many's the night I spent shaking my fist vigorously at the TV screen watching their VHS tapes. My emotion was such that there wasn't a tissue left in the shops for miles around. Batmobile released a batch of studio albums between 1985 and 1997 that I loved in equal measure. I thought we had a steady relationship. Then nothing. Sure, they released the odd track here and there, a split album, Jeroen had a side project, there were some YouTube clips of him doing acoustic solo numbers, but it just wasn't the same. I wanted a Batmobile gangbang. Just the four of us, like it used to be. Then came the teasing hints there might be a new album. I didn't pay too much attention as more often than not, these things never come to fruition. But fuck me pink only it did happen. Twenty years after Welcome To Planet Cheese the lads are back with Brand New Blisters. Jeroen wrote me a love missive asking if we could rekindle our romance and he got the record company to send me a review copy of the new album. I in turn purchased every tissue for miles around once more and bought a Fleshlight and awaited the album's arrival. Now for the serious bit...I got the album a few weeks ago and have been listening to it on and off ever since. I made some notes upon the first listen to see if my impressions would change because I wasn't too enamoured by it on first listen. I noted it was more of a rock and roll Batmobile as opposed to the neo/psycho Batmobile of yesteryear. However, the more I listened the more these first impressions began to fade and the more my love for EVERY fucking song on the album began to grow. It IS that classic Batmobile sound albeit with a rougher rock and roll edge as I alluded to in my initial notes. It can't be easy for a band like Batmobile to go back into the studio with 15 new self-penned songs. I mean, they have a back catalogue of psychobilly classics unlike no other band, so they must have been a bit apprehensive about how new material would be received by the hordes who have a set ideology of what they expect from Batmobile. As bands progress, and especially after such a long time between albums, some bands can progress so much that they actually alienate their audience. I had no preconceived notions whatsoever about this album. What I did know was that I'd either love it or loathe it. I grew to love it. Now I can't get enough of it. The thing is full of brand new Batmobile classics. But they're not relying on past glories here. They're not simply rehashing that trademark sound that made them so popular. This stuff is fresh as fuck. Yes it sounds like Batmobile, of course it does, they wrote every song on the album, but it's not just a half-arsed attempt to make a few quid off the back of their previous output. Let me put it this way, it's like how every Batmobile album that came before this one sounded different, but you knew it was Batmobile...well this carries on that tradition. Christ Almighty this a fucking stellar return to the studio from Batmobile. I haven't listened to anything over and over again this much in a long time. It actually makes me happy! Maybe because it can transport me back through the decades of previous Batmobile albums and the memories that go along with them and then beam me right back to the present where I realise what I'm listening to is a new release from a band whose music I have always loved and whose members I have always held in the highest regard.
The album will be released on March 3rd and is available now to pre-order from the Batmobile webshop on shiny beermat and sexy vinyl formats. Links below as usual....
