Album Notes

SIMON CHAINSAW… Australian by birth and firmly rooted in the Australian Rock meets Punk tradition…. His roots draw on (among others) punks SAINT’S, RADIO BIRDMAN mixed with early AC/DC and ROSE TATTOO.

Also available in FRANCE direct from NOVA EXPRESS RECORDS www.novaexpressrecords.com

check out this great review!!

DOWN TO THE WIRE - Simon Chainsaw (Nova Express)
The great thing about this album is that there's no stuffing around. The songs are concise and to the point. Simon and his multi-national strike force gets in, drops the rock and roll payload and gets the fuck out of there. Brevity is the byword. A hit-and-run mission - and the odds are you'll call in another airstrike as soon as it's run the course of its 36 minutes.

Teaming with a Franco-German band (drawn from the ranks of Holy Curse and a Sonny Vincent backline, two of the Bar's perennial faves), the underrated Brazil-based Australian spits out a dozen frenetic tunes. Recent Chainsaw bands have been top-notch (the Forgotten Boys spring to mind), and these guys are no exception, but the arrangements here are less drawn-out.

Lead guitarist on most cuts, Johnny Rio, can take a bow; his sharp playing adds real sting to already steaming tunes like "Get On With the Show". His photo has also been enigmatically left off the CD slick "for contractual reasons" so we can only guess at his true moniker (or wonder if his day job is as an extra in a ghost train). The other lead player, James Kipput, doesn't acquit himself badly either.

The engine room of Vinz Holy Curse and Buenax Samurai lays down a fat bed of sound to rival most anything else around, the slight ring in the snare notwithstanding. They also cook up a shitstorm on a foot-to-the-floor stomper like the ever-accelerating "Can't Break Me".

The mix might be a little dirtier here than on other Chainsaw recordings (actually, a lot dirtier), but that's no detraction. It's roughed-up but not to the point of muddiness. The songs are high on the energy quotient with no superfluous embellishment. The other key factor is the Chainsaw vocal - gravelly undertones blessed with the ability to ride the melody line home on catchy songs like the title track or the monstrous "Sick".

Play it back-to-back with "Basta" and you'll appreciate that there are quite a few people out there around the globe doing their utmost to keep Real Rock Action alive. Oh, you can buy a copy in our shop, too. Now if Simon would only get back to Australia and play live here more often, a few more people in this neck of the woods might know about it. - The Barman... 4 STARS OUT OF 5 !!