Location: Waterloo, Iowa
Country: USA
Genre: Punk, rock
Full Length: Suck It
Format: Digital album
Label: Independent
Release date: March 19, 2020
With "Suck It," their second full length following “Hotbang,” (2017) The Rumours achieve what many punk/hard rock and pop/punk bands aim for, without trying. By playing what they feel, they show there’s little difference between the attitudes of punk and rock & roll. Either it speaks to you or it doesn’t.
I could be way off, but as this is my first time sitting down and listening to this band I gather this album expresses a modicum of disdain for musical romanticism, viewing it as a pompous smokescreen for the primal love instinct. This sexualized presence meant to mirror the primal urges behind the romanticism falls somewhere between street punk, androgynous proto-glam, and sleaze rock.
"Suck It" is crude, brash, and raw on many levels, resonating with the snippy, hymnatic sarcasm Johnny Rotten and Steve Jones brought to the Sex Pistols in the 70s and the unconventional toughness Joan Jett introduced as she fronted the Blackhearts and went solo a decade later, with little patience for hangers on, punk wannabes, and would-be rock stars with oversized egos.
If punk is still about individualism today, Carli Foxx exemplifies the genre by projecting ferocious independence and standing in a category all her own. As the band's lead vocalist and frontwoman, she sings with relative melody, moans, squeals, yelps, growls, snarls, yells, screams and delivers snarky raps, titillating the audience in a way that fulfills and mocks expectations about how punks behave.
Behind Foxx’s voice are bluesy vamps, Angus Young inspired solos and energy inherited from Jerry Lee Lewis, old Kiss, the New York Dolls and the Donnas with equal parts conviction. Mixing the disdain I perceived earlier with dark humor, and the sexuality I noted with playfulness, The Rumours make the experience fun and enjoyable, especially when they play out (as I gather from their live clips).
As early punk bands did in the 70s, they manage to capture a healthy portion of their live energy in the studio. Undermining the stereotype that punk is all about playing three chords and screaming about how angry you are at the world, the band remind you in“Electric Blues” and “You Suck, Baby” their sardonic disposition is meant to be satirical, as is the defiance of traditional "blonde bombshell" beauty standards they project during their shows with equal ardor. –Dave Wolff
Lineup:
Carli Foxx: Vocals, guitar
Stu The Dew: Lead guitar, vocals
Ela Rose: Bass, vocals
Daniel Kluiter: Drums, vocals
Track list:
1. Hey You
2. Never Comin' Back
3. Electric Blues
4. Caroline Brown
5. Phone Calls
6. Take Me Shake Me
7. Put Your Love On My Face
8. You Suck, Baby
9. L.A. Trends
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