The latest release from the king of scuzzy rock,stand up Mr Johny Skullknuckles – ex-Goldblade & aka JSK, The Kopek Millionaires & Johny Skullknuckles and the Lockdown Lovers, is the aptly titled 6 track EP Dirty Fucking Rock n Roll comes from his latest guise Johny and the Dead Girls.
Dirty Fucking Rock n Roll is just that. A celebration of the music your parents warned you against, just in case it should pervert your mind and soul, attracting you to that seedy world of rock and roll, you know the one, where everyone worshipped The Devil, took copious amounts of illicit drugs, only drank straight Jack Daniels (for breakfast, lunch and dinner) and hid satanic messages in the run out grooves of their records.
If all that sounds right up your street, read on…
These six tracks take the 70s and 80s as their template, classic hard rock and sneering punk attitude, and maybe a wee bit of hair metal, giving off vibes from the classic straight down the line shock rockers Motörhead who gave parents the fear through to the glam punk of Hanoi Rocks and the sleaze rock of Zodiac Mindwarp.
There are some discombobulating moments – the first time I listened to the CD was in the car and I nearly crashed at the end of (I Wanna Know) Where the Action Is – listen and you’ll get it. And listening to The Buzz (Video Mix)on the train on headphones, I looked around to see who was make the interesting background noises!
The EP kicks off in riotous fashion with Johny “Dancing with the Dead Girls”, a slice of scuzzy rock clocking in at less than a minute, before he heads to hell with Bad Intentions, the road to hell may be “paved with good intentions” but Johny admits all of his are of the opposite type. Metal riffs abound on No Class, a tune which I’d wager was the exact opposite of its nomenclature.
One of highlights of the EP for me is The Buzz, a rocket fuelled thrill ride, Johny giving not one fuck about what anyone else thinks “we do it for The Buzz.” Biting at its heels is (I Wanna Know) Where the Action Is, picking up on the latent energy from its predecessor and shooting for the stars on its action seeking ascendency.
The final track of the album is where the EP takes its title from, Johny, and his Dead Girls, take the pace back down, creating a throbbing, growling rumble of deep down and, well, dirty fucking rock and roll… it does just what it says on the tin…a behemoth of a tune with a seething guitar break, before pushing the pedal to the metal once again for one final rush of adrenaline.