Track listing: Shoot Me, Prince of Death on the Freeway, Motorcyclist Down, Scar for Life, You Hear Them Coming, Ding Dong the Witch is Dead, Every Night I Pray to God that I Die, I'm a Fly - RAW
"What am I even listening to?" I'm thinking as I hear Electric Peace's "You Hear Them Coming." I think it's a new record that I'm reviewing but what I'm hearing sounds like the lost collab album from The Doors and Alice in Chains, co-produced by David Gilmour in 1975. How does the digital track on Spotify sound like a bargain bin find on your way out the door on Record Story Day? (and I mean that as a compliment) So much of Electric Peace's aura falls somewhere in between legend and complete fabrication. How much of it is even real?
Police sirens and a helicopter hover over a tweaked-out homeless man with a knife dancing on top of a shopping cart. He's yelling he'sJesus Christ and the FBI planted a microchip in his head. Then he screams “shoot me, shoot me.”
- Brian Kild
What you need to do while you listen to their [latest?] record Shoot Me!!! is visit electricpeace.band and read the stories. Did bassist/vocalist Brian Kild spend time in prison with Rick James? Did he really rip off Kurt Cobain? Was there a heated exchange of words with Kim Fowley? Who the fuck knows?!
Recorded at Radio Tokyo Studios in Venice Beach, where Descendents and Minutemen recorded among others, Shoot Me!! is an experience unto itself. Kild belts out his vocals with the velocity of Ian Astbury. Keyboardist Jim Hawkinson shreds the organ channeling Jon Lord in all his glory. Honey Davis' guitar solos are the love child of Ritchie Blackmore and Tom Morello. The band plays angry...and it's utterly delightful!
While one quote recommends Electric Peace "if you like Bad Brains or Dead Kennedys," which may well be true, their sound seems deeply rooted in late 60s and early 70s experimental hard rock. Maybe dash of Punk, sure, but the musicianship is so refined and impressive that the band's got to admit to some influence from more highly executing bands of yore.
It wasn't the opening strains of the title track that sold me on Shoot Me!!! Skepticism upon the first few notes was that this was going to be another plodding, noisy album. But as the song and album as a whole won me over with each passing minute, I came to the undeniable realization that Electric Peace is simply a great fucking band! The songs are going to connect with the Punks and Classic Rockers alike. Rockers will headbang, kids will mosh, stoners will...get more stoned. But they're all going to look at each other and nod knowingly, reassuring one another that they've found a common ground in Electric Peace.