THE BLACK BEAUTIES
The Black Beauties debut album Catch a Beat is finally here, and these twelve songs have been waiting to see the light of day for a long time. This snotty Chicago rock ‘n’ roll punk band has been staking their claim in the Windy City for six years now, with super catchy get-out-of-your-seat-and-dance songs that bring to mind the best of Stiv Bators, GG Allin and the Jabbers, The Saints, and Cheap Trick. With Canderson on vocals, Eric and Zach on guitars, Chris on bass, and Al Axe on drums, this is guaranteed to take you on a foot-stomping, hand-clapping, drunken Midwest ride on The Black Beauties’ rock ‘n’ roll rollercoaster. Get on board for the “Action Party”!
PRESS:
ROCKTOBER – ABOUT CATCH A BEAT:
The reason this stellar trash rock ‘n’ roll band sings in such snotty voices is likely because they are misusing those cases of Sudafed I keep sending them. Dudes – it can also clear up mucus!
CARBON 14 – ABOUT CATCH A BEAT:
The Black Beauties explode outta the Windy City with a debut record of sleazy sounds and pop perfection. Take ‘50s rock ‘n’ roll, ‘60s girl group harmonies, ‘70s glam guitar riffs, a heavy dose of snotty attitude, and you get Catch a Beat. This basically comes across like a lost Joneses record. And yes, that is a very, very good thing. This is boozed up sloppy rawk ‘n’ roll played late at night in a dingy hole-in-the-wall club by guys who are born to lose. The CD is a very live sounding, high energy recording, with guitars overdriven with dueling riffs flying outta the stereo speakers. You can’t help singing along to songs like “Action Party!”, Blood in Her Blonde Hair” (great song title and chorus hook!), and “Carnival” (which starts out as a cool ballad and very Only Ones sounding, then kicks in full-on rockin!). If you love rock ‘n’ roll then you need to catch this beat!
BIG TAKEOVER – ABOUT CATCH A BEAT:
Despite being from Chicago, The Black Beauties are one of the best New York City-style bands I’ve ever heard. Blending Johnny Thunders guitar rock with the pop sensibilities of early Zero Boys, Canderson (vocalist) and company (the rest of the band) have produced one helluva toe-tappin’, head-bobbin’ punk rock opus fit for endless nights in the local rock ‘n’ roll bar or drunken parties with your closest spiky-haired friends. It may be the alcohol talking, but I sense something very L.A. (The Chiefs, The Controllers, The Skulls, The Gears) about this band, and it’s making me dig the CD all the more. You know what I’m talkin’ about baby, so let’s cut the crap and dance to this disc all night long! Yeah!
QUEEN BEE MUSIC – ABOUT THE BLACK BEAUTIES – LIVE AT RED KEY TAVERN, INDIANAPOLIS, IN, 02/09/07:
I was working at the Red Key Tavern (your waitress and cook) when a group of guys came in. They asked me what time it was here, the clock in their van was off an hour. They were wearing leather, Chuck Taylors, and had plenty of tattoos. I went out on a limb: "Are you playing the Melody Inn tonight?" I can recognize my people.
Saturday is punk rock night at the Mel. I keep missing it because of work, but I’m sure it's a blast. Greg Brenner does a great job bringing in bands from all over the country. The Black Beauties are from Chicago and a swell group of guys. Their show made the list of the top ten live shows in Indianapolis for the week and I enjoyed showing them that. I wanted to tell them I vote on the panel, but I restrained myself.
I didn’t have to tell them about the Red Key rules, because they didn’t break any. As an old punk rocker I might be biased, but overall punk rock kids are the nicest, most accepting folks I know. These guys were polite and fun to wait on (and good tippers!).
I’ve also been enjoying their web site. You can listen to their great power pop music and play Astroids too! I’ll be sure to catch them the next time they're in town.
REVIEWER MAG – ABOUT CATCH A BEAT:
If you’re old enough to remember the '70s and you were into punk, you remember such bands as The Germs, Stiff Little Fingers, and The Buzzcocks. If you saw that Bill Friedkin flick "Cruising" with Pacino, you heard a bitchin’ soundtrack full of that kind of punk rock and even saw The Germs playing in a freaky S&M leather bar.
The Black Beauties have recaptured that sound with their debut Catch a Beat. Maybe there's not all the depravity and bacchanalia that went with those days, but they pulled off a CD with twelve bitching songs that rocked full-throttle from the get-go.
How cool is it to compare your toxic relationship to angel dust ("PCP to Me")? Some other highlights include "Taken for a Ride", "Shoulda Known Better", and "New Relations". Like I said, it evokes the aforementioned punk scene but at the same time the 'Beauts have a distinct sound, that today anyway, no one else has. In fact, the farther I got into the album the more I liked it. Catch a Beat never got stale or static, but rolled along nicely with some interesting twists and turns.
Featured in this Chicago quintet is one Canderson on vocals, who he used to be the head rock-photographer for the now defunct Horizontal Action magazine. Eric & Zack play guitar, Chris plays bass, and Al Axe is on drums. No doubt, The Black Beauties put on an intense, exciting live show, and I can just imagine seeing them in a dive bar downtown, playing before a bunch of excited and inebriated kids. Rock on...
DAGGER – ABOUT CATCH A BEAT:
I’ve heard some good things about this label, that, like our local behemoth Dirtnap Records, Full Breach Kicks releases some of the best pop punk money can buy. Well, The Black Beauties is the first thing I’ve heard by the label and I must say, it’s quite a slam as in dunk (really wanna hear The Soda Pop Kids too ). The Chicago five-piece (including two guitarists) bring the noise with a tight economical sound that would make Windy City brethren both past and present like The Effigies and Naked Raygun (welcome back!) proud, and probably Cheap Trick too. Vocalist Candy (who used to also work for the now defunct ,great punk/sex zine, Horizontal Action) has the snotty vocal thing down (like a poor man’s Stiv Bators), and tunes like “New Relations”, “Action Party”, and “Taken for a Ride” bring out Candy’s flair for the language. Axe players Erik and Zach (no last names here) grind out the catchy tunes while rhythm section drummer Al-Axe and bassist Chris hold down the fort. I even hear a dash of The Undertones on a few tunes too, and as you all know, you can’t go wrong with that. Well done gentlemen!
BMO'S WORLD – ABOUT CATCH A BEAT:
Coming out of the middle of the country, The Black Beauties typify much of current underground punk music. Drawing heavily on the New York Dolls and all the classic '77 punk as well as plenty of pre-punk glam and sleaze, they play songs with real hooks and just enough snot and phlegm to keep it interesting. There's a certain drunken swagger to the vocal delivery of front man Candy, and the rest of the band does a fine job of pushing and pulling him along. Nothing terribly new or groundbreaking, but fans of The Exploding Hearts, The Soda Pop Kids, and Beat Beat Beat should enjoy The Black Beauties plenty.
NOW WAVE – ABOUT CATCH A BEAT:
Those who loved the poppy glam punk stylings of the late, great Trash Brats may be glad to hear that The Black Beauties have stepped up to fill the void. I don't know if The Black Beauties are fans of the Trash Brats or not, but clearly this veteran five-piece is sonically and spiritually akin to Ricky Rat's much-missed gang of minstrels. With both bands having hailed from great American Midwestern cities (the Trash Brats: Detroit; The Black Beauties: Chicago) and successfully married the big, crunching hooks of Cheap Trick to the backstreet rock 'n' roll of the New York Dolls, the parallels are clear. And The Black Beauties singer Canderson works the same sort of David Jo meets Wayne County appeal that made T-Brats front man Brian O'Blivion such a joy to behold. Of course, The Black Beauties have been around for six years and have cultivated a distinct, appealing sound. They are not overly derivative of any one group. But if you had the good taste to like the Trash Brats, my money's on you fancying The Black Beauties as well.
What I like about The Black Beauties is they sound like neither a cookie cutter Thunders wannabe band nor a typical '00s power pop group. They have quite a pop thing going with lots of whistle-worthy melodies and unabashedly euphonious harmonies, yet their approach is loose and sloppy and driven by Berry/Stones dual guitar swagger, with palpable Phil Spector/Shadow Morton fixations and kind of a "Palisades Park" proto teen idol sensibility to boot. Catch a Beat is a wholeheartedly fun album, never taking itself too seriously and relentless in its rocking and rolling. Canderson is a spirited, engaging vocalist, and his snotty style is a fine fit for the group's just-right blend of the raucous and the melodious. Guitarists Erik and Zach bring the hot licks and twin Fender kicks, and all the way the feel of the album is of a fun-filled live set. There are no real departures from the basic formula, but it works because it's delivered with such energy and panache. And with so many of these songs probably having been worked out on stage for years now, the quality of the material is understandably top-notch. In particular, "PCP To Me" is unbelievably catchy, and "Why Do You Look that Way?" is so strongly derived from the doo wop/girl group legacy, that it must be admired by label mates The Soda Pop Kids.
Catch a Beat is recommended if you like Full Breach Kicks artists such as The Joneses and Kevin K, or Now Wave favorites the Teenage Frames. Go fetch!
NO FRONT TEETH – ABOUT CATCH A BEAT:
I’m astounded by this band and this album! This is unbelievable and I don’t see anything else blowing me away this year as much as this, so I’m jumping the gun by 12 whole fuckin’ months and saying that this is my album of 2007. I’m certain that nothing will knock this. This is amazing. Wow. This is perfect rock ‘n’ roll and the vocals just tip this fuckin’ thing over the
edge. They are fuckin’ fantastic! It’s melodic but snotty and so natural and exciting as fuck. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve listened to this from start to finish, and I can’t wait until I hear it again (even though it’s on right now). I have spun this hundreds of times and it still blows me away like the first time I played it. It was instant.
There are some killer guitar parts in here and when the vocals spit all over them it’s just brilliant. For example, the song “Can’t Take Hold” is so outstanding with all that coming into action and with a killer middle section that’s to fuckin’ die for. But that’s just one track and they all knock me out. Another thing that’s great about these guys is that it’s so hard to place their era, and if I didn’t know this was recorded last year I’d believe this was way, way older, and that’s very impressive shit. They have nailed it and driven it in so deep, and they know exactly what they are doing and should be blown away with the end result of this record themselves. I badly, badly need this band and this record – The Black Beauties are like PCP to me.
SLUG – ABOUT CATCH A BEAT:
To create their sound, Chicago's The Black Beauties have basically ignored any and all music created in the last thirty years. They combine the streetwise swagger of the New York Dolls with the pop-sensibility and R&B influence of the often-overlooked mod scene, to create a sleazy sound that is full of energy, trashiness, and whole hell of a lot of fun. Lead singer Canderson delivers his snotty vocals perfectly, conjuring up images of dirty subways, dark alleys, drunken nights and the women of ill-repute that come with them. Throughout it all, the band holds the sound down without missing a beat, delivering their brand of sleazy proto-punk as only the most charismatic of lowlifes could. With song titles like "Action Party!" and "Blood in Her Blonde Hair", it's clear that The Black Beauties are free of the pretension and social-awareness that serves as a double-edged sword in the modern music scene. These guys are just out to have a good time, and as long as you've got Catch a Beat playing and a beer in your hand, you're gonna have a good time too.
UNDER THE VOLCANO – ABOUT CATCH A BEAT:
On this here debut full-length from The Black Beauties, trashy gutter-crawlin’ rock ‘n’ roll is the name of the game. Fronted by a vocalist who seems to be the snotty kid brother of Wayne/Jayne County, the band launches into one sleazy, snarl-lipped anthem after another, guitars blazing like Johnny Thunders riding a subway train to sweet heroin paradise and the rhythm section rockin’ like a street-walkin’ nymphomaniac straddling a nitro-powered jackhammer. Catch a Beat is pure party-till-ya-puke rock ‘n’ roll dirtiness for junkies, boozers, perverts, criminals, and all sorts of other societal scum. And since I snuggly fit in there somewhere, I’m voraciously enjoying The Black Beauties to no end.
VEGLAM – ABOUT CATCH A BEAT:
I think I first heard The Black Beauties’ music years ago on mp3.com, and like the Teenage Frames, this band seemed to have all it takes to revive the almost cold ashes of The Real Kids, The Boys, or The Joneses. Several years indeed, and I was starting to get desperate waiting for an official release to reward their efforts, a kind of quest for the Holy Grail that was finally achieved by these musicians from Chicago. It’s good to think the band’s persistence and talent are now finally rewarded. This album is thus released at the right moment to allow Canderson and his friends to get out of a relative anonymity and widen their fan base. The production of Catch a Beat is really appropriate to old songs they know by heart, but also allows us to hear more recent ones that are as good as the old material. Some of you with lustful thoughts might have randomly found this page because of some imaginationless search engine. Indeed we’re not talking about ebony sex bombs here, but about some genuine band whose well studied choruses and Dollsy riffs will take you to more memorable pleasures – and more respectable ones!
