Album Notes

Cripple Creek Fairies
Metal Arms
By Sam Sutherland
Exclaim

These Calgarians play like Alice Cooper in their hearts but on record, things come out with too much of an earnest early punk rock edge to play into heavy metal territory or stereotypes. This rules, because the band's unexpected mix of Who riffs and Stooges songwriting makes for an original blast of classic rock'n'roll, punk and metal that doesn't sound anything like other "punk metal" bands. Instead, you get the early Sabbath-infused "Runaround" butting up against the Cheap Trick melody of "Head Down" and the almost Stooges-y "Mars & the Moon." That the vocals avoid any obvious references to these bands' very, very famous singers makes the Cripple Creek Fairies a pretty unusual specimen, one that deserve some plays by any fan of the aforementioned bands. (Transistor 66)


Cripple Creek Fairies
Metal Arms
Transistor 66 / Catch and Release
Jim Vaughan

The comic book heroes of rock and roll, the Cripple Creek Fairies, are back to rock your panties off and save the universe with their fifth CD, Metal Arms. This album is just the first of a “Five Fingers of Death Ear Punch”: five albums to be released this year that will blow your mind.
Metal Arms is pure rock and roll that is so tight and “turned up to 11,” it will make you rethink the fluff in your iPod. All nine tracks are well written from start to finish, and are like an intergalactic version of the Who (in space suits) doing Motorhead covers. Monster Zero’s Git-box solo in “I’ve Got the Fire” is like a chainsaw cutting a planet in half, while Les Izmoore’s lyrics in “Mars and the Moon,” “…they buried him face down, in his favorite sweater,” are instant classics. Songs like “Wild Women,” “Head Down,” and “What Doesn’t Kill Me” give a glimpse of the satirical flavor that only the CCFs can pull off.
Winning the title of “the best band in Calgary” from the masterminds of the Sled Island Festival this past summer, the Fairies make all the “wild women” crazy (or so I’ve heard, anyway). Even if this album is a little more serious than their other albums, they can make other “serious” rock bands, and their egos, look like jokes. The Fairies get it.