Bazuki

08-03-09

Bazuki could be the band that may very well save what you and I know as rock and roll. A band of behemoth proportions, lyrical guile and an approach to making records that borders on the very essence of freedom of expression.

But who the fuck are this band? You've never heard of them, have ya? I'd be surprised coz they don't play many gigs and this EP's been out for a while. Why then bother to review an EP that's been out and reviewed by others before? Well, why the fuck not. Instead of re-hashing the usual shite over and over again let's try and bring some new bands to the people. So, anyway, what we have here is three folks from Co. Kildare, which will give you a hint of their musical influences. What's Kildare famous for...err horse racing? A crap GAA team? Navan-man? Bellx1 or Damien Rice? No, Kildare is famous for it's invasion of Dubs since early Celtic Tiger era Ireland, second behind Meath. And this anger from the locals has finally made it into the medium of music. Actually the only good thing that Kildare has given Ireland musically is Christy Moore.....until now that is.


The first thing that strikes you about the band is their ability to laugh at themselves without coming off looking like baffoons. The inlay of Plaster Coated Dreams contains a quote from Hotpress when they reviewed the band's debut EP. “Interesting, if a little unfocused” they said. Interesting? Indeed, unfocused? Hardly.


Opener Bazuki Opener packs a punch that is comparable with MC5's Kick Out the Jams. The band going for the ballsy option by having the first track of their debut as a live track, just like MC5. The songs could have been a cast off from System of a Down's Toxicity sessions. While it has some messed up lyrics..... Dracula, Dracula, Dracula is dead....Bazuki, Bazuki, Bazuki is dead, the song hits you like a donkey punch and while sounding like a post-metal tirade it's beat makes you want to get down Tiesto style. It's got two proper old skool This Is Euphoria rave moments and how the band manage to pull that off live, then stick it as their first song on their first EP is remarkable. It's brave and commendable and all, but it's suicide really. Putting a live version of your best song as your opener, sure it can only go downhill from here on in.


Title track Plaster Coated Dreams follows and “borrows” from Whipping Boys We Don't Need Nobody Else, although maybe not, most of the folks in this band were probably too young when Whipping Boy were assaulting audiences back in the day. But it does bare some resemblance, certainly it feels like a Whipping Boy song, except it's even more pissed off. “Plaster coated dreams break so easy, doesn't matter if you pretend that you don't need me.” To go from the hard-hitting pummelling that was Bazuki Opener to the empty loneliness of Plaster Coated Dreams takes a skill that most bands are too afraid to develop. Can we sucker punch the fuckers with a fast one and then beat them into submission with a brooding slow building epic? If songs could become worldly matter then Plaster Coated Dreams would be a 50ft waves smashing against the Cliffs of Moher. Simples.


Final track Tonto shows a band not afraid of having some fuckin fun. What's the point in being in a band if you've always got to be serious anyway? Too many Irish bands have forgotten how to have fun. Always looking for some deep superficial bullshit connection with their audience, highlighting their art. Music is hardly an art-form anymore, anyway, especially popular music. After all, anyone can play guitar. Too many times have we heard the cliché of gobshites with guitars struggling with their art when the only real struggle is that they simply don't practice their instrument enough which means that they are limited in their offerings. And don't let them tell you otherwise. But back to Tonto. “My donkey Tonto, I bought him in a market in Toronto. I went down the road it wasn't very far. Tonto got hit by a car.” “Tonto! Toronto!” The song erupts from a seemingly happy song, banjos and all, about buying a donkey into one of the saddest laments for a donkey every put to record. He gets hit by a car, drinks milk to find himself lactose intolerant and then falls to death from the Empire State Building after a shopping trip to Naas.


Bazuki are the Irish band, mostly unknown, who could single-handedly save us. Instead of listening to the every day normal inoffensive un-thought provoking profferments driven down our throats in shops, offices, pubs etc this band could bring us all together, they could be the band that make us all agree for a change.


They're got everything, a sharp wit, punchy songs that may lull you into a false sense of comfort before assaulting your mind and body. They are lyrical masters without even trying. They keep it so simple that it's genius. They will provoke thought and debate but still have the confidence to tell a penis joke and make everyone in the room laugh. And the fact that they are brave enough to try all this different sounding music on the one offering highlights their passion for freedom of expression.


Interesting? Indeed. Unfocused? Absolutely not.


Also Griffith SU out-going president Sean Reid is their bassist and, well, if you don't like Sean then you're a wanker and your puny mind will be unable to fathom the depths of Bazuki's music. You'd be better off listening to the unimaginative music of Bell(end)x1, Damo Rice, Republic of Loose or the Blizzards. Actually you're probably a Today FM/2FM/98FM listener, so yea, you are a wanker, but you already know that didn't you?

Drop-d Rating: 9/10
- www.drop-d.ie

"A first track called 'Juggernaut' tend to signal whats up ahead, and the Kildare trio Bazuki don't dissapoint, as the track soon turns into a noisy mix of death metal punk, although more melodious than the genre usually delivers. Their drummer Sophie powers things along nicely through several time changes. 'Eighties' is more laid-back and tuneful, with lots of Nirvana influences in the guitars, and neat restrained playing. 'Swansong' is more danceable, almost disco-oriented in parts, with brittle guitar shards put to good use. Vocalist George Longwill shows touches of Jim Morrison, and the song builds up with a fetching chanting piece too. " - Hotpress 22nd August 2007