The Shut-Ups are a New Wave-inspired quintet from Atlanta, Georgia. Don Condescending, the leader of the group, writes songs because he’s utterly hopeless socially. He graduated from the University of Chicago Law School in 2000, but forsook the practice of law for rock and roll. The rest of the band was culled from Atlanta’s finest. Ben Spraker (also front man of Athens’ Ceiling Fan) contributes lead vocals and guitar work. Brett Meyer chips in some guitar as well. Thaddeus Thompson plays bass and synth pedals. The group is rounded out with the lively stick work of drummer Billy bin Laden.
Though The Shut-Ups began life as Don’s solo project, the release of the sophomore album It Hurts To Be Seen, the band became a live unit. Sounds from the pop netherworld, where Gary Numan, Adam Ant, and Sparks go head to head with Randy Newman, Smokey Robinson, and the Kinks in a midnight bowling league soon filtered throughout Atlanta and Athens.
The Shut-Ups make yet another leap with the completion of their newest record, The STUD Album, a loud, glam-tinged musical treatise on seduction techniques. Inspired by Robert Greene’s massively popular book, The Art of Seduction, The STUD Album presents characters that embody seductive traits that listeners might emulate; the key is to determine which approach is most in keeping with his strengths.
“This is our attempt at exploring the self-help genre,” explains Condescending. “Rock stars are experts at seduction, but they tend, selfishly, to keep their wisdom to themselves.” Condescending, now married, has taken a different tack. “My own seductive powers have made my life a veritable paradise,” he says. “Now it’s time to give something back.”
From the randy rake who unabashedly demands sexual gratification (“Give It Up”) to the sly pseudo-virgin whose feigned innocence lures unsuspecting women into his bed (“Sexxor”), The STUD Album’s fourteen songs explore a rich variety of seductive personae. However, for every successful seduction there is an equal and opposite victimization. Accordingly, some of The STUD Album’s songs are told from the victim’s point of view. In “Porn Crush,” a pornography connoisseur is moved by the perceived plight of his favorite star to fantasize about saving her from the “big, bad men” who have sex with her. Perhaps even more pathetically, the antihero of “Dude, She’s Not Your Girlfriend” believes he has a girlfriend despite all evidence to the contrary.
Condescending hastens to add that the Shut-Ups do not necessarily condone every seductive technique described in The STUD Album. “In fact,” he says, “I personally find some our ‘advice’ ethically dubious.” However, if seductive games could be played more efficiently, people would get married sooner, at which point “…they could finally stop hanging out at sleazy bars, get a real job, have babies, and eventually stop listening to music entirely.”
Pieces of this semi-bawdy concept record already have been given warm welcome by local critics:
“Mr. Condescending really hams it up on stage, and the whole band dances around in their pajamas, creating a rather festive atmosphere. Their sound is an 80s new wave sound, heavy on the keyboards and with danceable rhythms. They really got the crowd going. Overall, I had a blast seeing The Shut Ups, and highly recommend them to anyone looking for a fun time.” (EvilSponge.org, 2005 concert review)
“So if you like bright, pop music with quick witted lyrics, wonderfully catchy hooks and harmonies, but also tend to appreciate bands who actually have learned the craft of their respective instruments, then this is definitely for you. It's sun roof down, happy, riotously funny music put together by 5 incredible musicians and it deserves the band of the month award for accomplishing all of it without even having to wink-wink-nod-nod.” (Chris Horton, SLABmusic.com)
Read more...