Betty Blowtorch - Last Call

You know how it is when you gotta be sick, you're so nauseous that you cannot wait to be sick so you can feel better? That's how Betty Blowtorch sounds, like a really good puke feels. And I mean that in the most complimentary way - Last Call is dedicated to the memory of bass-player Bianca Butthole, whose life was cut short by a car crash, so I feel it best to continue the memorial by making sure to tell you as much about this pretty rad band as I can. Bianca's bass riffs are best seen on tracks like the unreleased demo "I Wanna Be On Epitaph" (it's a bratty blow at the label, yes) and "Shut Up and Fuck" (oh, do you really need to be told? It makes the Donna's "Take It Off" sound like a theme song for Playskool.) But the rest of the band is great (Blare N. Bitch, Judy Molish, and Sharon Needles, respectively) - One of the best and ballsy songs on this compilation-esque album is "Ode to Dickhead" ("My name is Dickhead / I ain't no inbred / I got a shaved head / Dick-head!") which is so prettily sung and live, acoustic on the radio... Prettily in the sense that the women of Betty Blowtorch are clearly grinning while singing. That's one of the best things about the album: These chicks seem like they're singing and screaming and pounding and shredding for the sheer joy of it. Their "cover" of Hole's "Teenage Whore" is great and snarly; it's a great postcard to Ms. Love. "Rock 'n Roll '85" is where bands today, girls or boys (no offense to Sleater-Kinney) need to get to in terms of bare-bones yelling. That's how it used to sound - You remember Mudhoney? These gals do. And the best part about them is their sense of humor - There are interview clips on the album, and the deflection of the goofy DJ's "So how'd you get so good at the tambourine?" question is deflected by the quick quip of "Oh, the Tambourine Institute of Technology - T.I.T." Some of it is kinda... crass? The assault on the ear drums can get a little redundant, the grittiness of these girls gets a little tired - Can I get some more melody somewhere? Even with the excellent guitar solos, more variety is needed (I kept feeling like "I'm Ugly and I Don't Know Why" is something I heard before - And I mean message and song), but otherwise Betty Blowtorch rocks. If you don't like loud, brash, screaming ladies with a lot to say and a lot to play, then don't bother with Betty Blowtorch. The rest of us get to enjoy some real grating joy in shrieks and shouts. Best thing I've heard since some of the stuff on the Bridge 9 label - Punkish yawp for the sake of yawp. Thanks Betty Blowtorch, for ressurecting the girl growl. Too bad nobody used it back up tween-pop in the corner. [www.foodchainrecords.com]