The Service Industry

Hey guys, I've read a couple of reviews of "Calm Down," and they are just precious. MySA called the record, "bouncy." I hate to say it but the only thing bouncy going on would be Mike McCoy's balls on that guy's chin.

Harsh, you ask? The commentary I find misses the mark, but makes for good copy sales-wise, but to distill these mega-talented guys to that kind pap is sickening.

I have been driving around in my wife's land yacht listing to Calm Down over and over until I think I got it. I like the Service Industry even though I hear they are fomenting race riots in Pheonix - I don't know how they find the time.

I have a theory about certain kinds music that fit TSI. One day I was having a conversation with a prominent physician friend of mine who told me that little kids who are especially bright can discover their own mortality before their brains are fully developed. It's worse than seeing your parents fucking. This cognitive hammer to the personality can screw these tots up.

This might have happened to several members of the group but especially Mike, who figured out that once knowing this secrete, he can't just holler out, "hey fatty, you're gonna get ass cancer and die, die, die! That would not be a good way to make friends. The urge to let it out is over-welming, so these young geniuses learn the more subtle approach is better. Hey, why not rock-n-roll?

It has to work that way. When I was last in LA, in the Century City part, I was walking by a very exclusive spa, in front of which many LA-types were walking past engaged in vapid conversations and pitching deals. A man dressed as a yound Richard Simmons was standing in the xeriscape terrorizing people with zingers, like Don Rickles with rabies. No one dared make eye-contact, and scarcely seemed to notice him. That man in a different persona can be heard throughout this album.

Now if you know anything about this band, the first four offerings on the record are somewhat of a surprise. Heart Repair, This Town Makes My Skin Crawl, Conflict Resolution and Calm Down, make a statement right away that Service Industry has the chops in composition, arrangement, and production to stand out as masters of their craft. The songs are beautiful; full of strong guitar lines and very lush vocal harmonies. Somebody left the reverb on, and it works. The music tastes like Beach Boys meets Weezer, but is completely original because they are nothing but that. I hope this record is a breakthrough for them.

Having said that, the rest of the record are the guys I know would stomp on the beach crew with heavy, steel-toed Ho Dad Doc Martins and feel-up their girl friends. Honestly, I Suppose So, Loudon Wainwright, AZ and We Buy Broken Gold, are the best three songs in rock this year. If a man dares to summon the Rock Gods by using the three power chord triumverate of D - A- G, he must prove worthy. He must have power, honor and balls of steel. Such is the case of I Suppose So. No band should go there if they ain't got the stuff. They prove their mettle on this tune. Loudon Wainwright to me is the best song on the record. Mike and the guys know that one can't seperate Mick Jagger from Ted Haggerd from Carney Barkers, and I have a feeling that so-and-so's daughter insn't gonna need that 200 dollars.

This is a great record. Buy it.