Visqueen and States of Emergency

Visqueen. They really came from nowhere and blew me away. The group first caught my attention on NPR when I heard the name Kim Warnick. She's former lead singer for a band called Fastbacks, who I also loved but admit is not for everyone.

I actually hated Visqueen for a few hours, for having been the cause of the breakup of the Fastbacks, who survived nearly 30 years in music. But then I heard their music. Amazon.com has free downloads of their songs Vaxxine and My House. (Vaxxine is far better. Although My House is my least favorite song on the album, it is still good. When was the last time you liked a whole album?) The band offers up links to some live performances as well, on their site.

It's punk. It's pop. It's real rock 'n roll. You wanna call it one thing or another, but it crosses more genre's in three minutes than you can keep up with.

Their lead singer, Rachel Flotard, is amazing. I haven't heard such a distinctive voice since Eddie Vedder. (No comparison in styles though, so shut the fuck up already). She drives it home on every song. None of it sounds over-rehearsed or uncommitted. She can go from a cute riff, to a wail that you can physically feel the pain in. Listen to what she claims is her first acoustic performance on those live shows from their website, and you'll see it is in no way studio magic. This is the real thing.

I ordered their CD straight from the band, through the website. The day after I wrote to complain that it didn't show up, their drummer Ben Hooker sent out a new one. He was a very nice guy about it all, and promised to castrate the mailman.

At least go listen. Every single person I've subjected to this has liked the band and asked where they could get a CD.

I'm gonna go back to watching them tow cars.