Vicious Pop

"Hide behind a wall of smoke to deflect your dirty looks..."

Pretty much everything you ever wanted from Japanther wrapped up in a pretty bow (or a screen-printed cardboard sleeve with a comic strip featuring the Wicked Witch of the West, same diff). I have no idea what the chronology is, if this is before or after RNR Ice Cream? I'd guess it's not from the same sessions, judging by the sound of it. "Divorce" is one of their most ripping trax to date, briskly paced with metal-tinged fuzz bass riffs that explode into the big obligatory chorus. "Where are we gonna sleep tonight, Dad?" Thematically "Divorce" is perfect for the band, fitting nicely between "Cable Babies" and "Fuk Tha Prince A Pull Iz Dum" in Japanther's growing cannon of grade school rebel music. Flip side "Evil Earth" has as many "who-o-oa" sing-a-long parts as you'd expect from a song that could have been titled by Glenn Danzig (that's a compliment, in case you can't tell from my internet tone), with a few "yeah, motherfuckers!" thrown in for good measure. The conclusion of the 7" is a brief accapella jam that goes:

"Men's room/If your name's Larry, Harry, it don't matter/You can get what you want and get back on the road/Truck Stop Love/Ain't nothing wrong with some Truck Stop Love/Just singing a song about some Truck Stop Love."

I hope this shows up as a full song in the future. More punk bands should write about truck stops.

for sale over at Japanther.com