Hungry like the Turbowolf…
I’m not entirely sure how to take a band like Turbowolf. Coming from just down the M4 from me in Bristol, they are a band that bring with them an air of mystic, and a spectacle of carnival theatrics, if you are to believe the rumours.
With this single, the wonderfully titled, ‘Bite Me Like A Dog’ and other double A-Side track, ‘Power’ we have an amazing fusion of ‘80’s Glam and ‘80’s Synth/Pop, that at one point will have you taken back to back-combed hair and tight-trousers, then you’ll want to wear flashing-lights and metal hats, as you relive your space-pop-invader past…
‘Bite Me Like A Dog’ starts off like it is going to be a Punk/Scream-core band, before suddenly we are zapped with some high-pitched keyboard notes, and what we get is something like Rachel Stamp mixed with some classic Pretty Boy Floyd, then with some New Romantics thrown into the mix for good measure. And just when you think you have got to grips with it, a robotic-voice likened to that of old television hero Metal-Mickey sings a couple of lines, leaving me to look closely at my coffee to see if there is any tell-tale signs of tampering, and someone trying to slip something in there…This is a good song, but a strange retro-mix of sounds that could be a Glam band recording a song in 1985, and right next to the microphone someone’s geek brother is showing off on his Casio keyboard.
Now, ‘Power’ starts off with some thumping drums and you get the classic rock in the vein of Led Zepplin feel, before the synths again jump in a bit like background music to Mario Bros, and the musical feel flashes between New Romantics to Hard Rock. This is what would happen if Spandau Ballet went to the studio, found Dave Grohl was just hanging around making a nuisance of himself, talking about how was the mainman of Nirvana blah, blah, blah, and in walks Taime Downe with a stripper on one arm and a transvestite on the other, and says, “Yeah, baby! This is a lame train, and I’ve got a first class ticket on the non-stop to nowhere!”, before David Bryan from Bon Jovi wakes up from having a dream about when he was living on a prayer and says, “ You give love a bad name, and er, my keyboard is in for an MOT but I’ve picked up this original 1984 Casio CZ-101 that I think I can bust a few tunes out of!”. And off they go at it like a musical orgy of fun and frolics. So I think that ought to be pretty crystal clear then, right?
In Chris G, they have a real enigmatic mad man, and that is a real bonus. Turbowolf are both serious, and tongue-in-cheek at the same time. It’s something a little bit different. Should we believe the hype that they are “Like the Gallows, if they’d been brought up in a circus?” Definitely maybe.