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Reviews:
“Your
only chance to see a live Glam
band … in South Carolina … was to start your own”.
So
the press release goes, and The
Wet Teens have done precisely this – twice. In the late 1970s, Michael
Mercury‘s band The Wet Teens were sadly short-lived, managing only to
run
off a small quantity of high-energy demos before tragedy struck,
Mercury
dying of syphilis.
Fast
forward twenty-five years, and
Michael Mercury’s nephew stumbles across the demo, re-records it
(acquiring
his uncle’s persona in the process), and The Wet Teens were born
afresh.
Remarkable info dump over, the Let It Pee of today is loud, crude and
fun.
From
the literal opener “An Introduction
By Ron Jeremy“ to the punning album title to the simulated orgasm
contained
in “Stuck In You”, Let It Pee isn’t clever. Yet, the band know the
strengths
of the material and instead litter the short collection (just six
tracks)
with heavyweight guitar work that, even without the back-story, you
just
know is true to a time when axe-slaying ruled the airwaves.
Those
that chime out in closer “Triple
X Sex” bring the power of AC/DC to mind, the measured chug of the
eyebrow-raising
“Sweet Little Fag” is purely background to the stadium riffs that rip
through
its midsection. “Stuck In You” comes on entirely like a strutting
Rolling
Stones ballad only by way of Guns N’ Roses‘ version of “Knockin’ On
Heaven’s
Door” thanks to its waterfalls of indulgent piano.
Cleanly
produced, Let It Pee is frequently
taken to the gutter by Mercury and his ghost with varied and
unfaltering
tales of promiscuity, and, in particular, of fellatio. See any track
for
proof, but these direct pearls probably take the biscuit: “Her heart is
open, and so are her legs / She gives it to me, I don’t have to beg /
The
time has come girl for us to fuck”. It’s safe to say that this sort of
thing would even make most modern commercial hip-hop lotharios blush.
Not
for the fainthearted then, The
Wet Teens nevertheless do history proud. It’ll be interesting to see if
the current incarnation can strike it out on their own, but, for now,
South
Carolina can again ring to the sound of a Glam-rock thought forgotten,
to a very welcome blast from the past.
~
Rob Gannon, [sic]magazine
Genuine
70's glam punk mixing the sounds
of AC/DC, Motley Crue, Judas Priest, & The Stooges.
The original
Wet Teens came to a sudden end when lead singer & frontman
Michael
MErcury die of syphilis - a complication of being a sex addict
& a
Christian Scientist. Twenty-five years later his nephew
acquired
a copy of The Wet Teens demo tape & relaunched the band taking
on his
uncle's persona. Result: Stepping out of a time warp!
~
Blotter - The Bad Acid Podcast
South
Carolina's Wet Teens were a glam-rock
band of the New York Dolls generation. They dissolved when their singer
Michael Mercury died. The anthemic hard-rock of Wet Teens and Sweet
Little
Fag already sounds like the Ramones and the Sex Pistols. Meanwhile the
lascivious and loathsome lyrics outdo the Cramps, two years before they
appeared. Triple X Sex is perhaps the funniest skit of their
hyper-sexed
cabaret. Their only demo was released 25 years later as Let It Pee
(Silber,
2010).
~
Scaruffi
The
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina-based
punk outfit, the Wet Teens has a rather unusual history that dates back
almost forty years and at least two different incarnations. Starting
off
in the late 1970s, when glam punk and glam rock were the biggest thing
out there – think of the New York Dolls and Generation X, for example –
it wasn’t very often that you’d come across many glam punk bands down
South.
So like tons of little towns across the country, the Wet Teens formed,
fronted by Michael Mercury and they played tons of shitty little dives
across South Carolina before recording a demo that had dubbed, and
passed
on to their friends. Sadly, the band came to a rather sudden end when
Michael
Mercury died of syphilis. As the unfortunate legend has it, Mercury was
a sex addict and a Christian Scientist.
Fast
forward some twenty-five years
when a house fire destroyed the Mercury family home. The late Michael’s
nephew came across a copy of his uncle’s demo and decided to re-form
the
band, taking on his uncle’s persona. The re-formed Wet Teens eventually
re-recorded the demo which is now their EP, Let It Pee. Clocking in at
about twenty minutes, Let It Pee is a tribute to sin, debauchery and
glorious,
ridiculous excess – drink too much, party too much, do too much drugs,
fuck too much, repeat and then repeat again. Maybe you get into a fight
or you pass out in your own vomit. It’s the rock ‘n roll lifestyle
where
you live fast and die even faster …
Musically,
the Wet Teens will remind
listeners of Bon Scott-era AC/DC, Motley Crue and other bands of that
ilk
– that is obnoxiously aggressive, loud, and fast music. We’re talking
about
screaming guitars, pounding drums and screaming vocals. But where AC/DC
and even Motley Crue had a sense of menace and danger, the Wet Teens
are
outrageously juvenile and sex obsessed. “Sweet Little Fag,” is an
inappropriately
funny song describing how after a gig, a gay man makes a sexual advance
towards Mercury – and how Mercury goes along with it. “Love Cream,” is
full of filthy, sexual come ons and innuendo. “I’ll lick you to your
core,”
Mercury grunts, screams and howls, throughout the chorus.
Let
It Pee is a fun, outrageous ode
to the rock ‘n roll excess of old but at the same time, it’s not
terribly
original and feels a bit dated for those listeners like me who had
grown
up headbanging to Motley Crue’s Dr. Feelgood, Guns ‘n Roses’ Appetite
for
Destruction or AC/DC’s Highway to Hell. But for a new generation of
listeners
who have quickly tired of the pabulum and bullshit that the major
labels
call music, Let it Pee will probably feel like a revelation. Let’s hope
that this album will draw people to the great music of the era that
influenced
the original demo.
~
William Ruben Helms, The Joy of
Violent Movement
Ahh…
to be a carefree teenager again:
invincible, immortal, no responsibilities save getting good grades
scoring
a bitchin’ ride.
On a
slight detour from the average
Silber Records CD, which is usually more experimental-driven,
drone-noise-ambient-everything-but-the-kitchen-sink
types of tinkering and toying with.
The
Wet Teens’ new CD, Let it Pee
is a raunchy, hilarious romp, evoking memories of late-night parties,
raunchy,
meaningless sex, sex, sex and the devil-may-care attitude that
accompanies
such a thrill-ride. The Wet Teens are not, as was de rigueur back in
the
2002-2007 days, full of faux-angst and almost over-their-heads in
polemic
logic that quickly degenerated into brooding and heavy drug use (Linkin
Park, Limp Bizkit, Blink 182 – a small exception there, since their
lyrics
were mostly just sophomoric dick jokes and stupid sexual innuendo which
wasn’t even funny, just bathetic).
As a
band, these young hedonists may
at first come off as a bunch of crude frat-boy-pranks, but there is
actual
talent there. I can’t say that they aren’t also guilty of over-the-top
sexual crassness – but that is their raison d’etre: they play their
instruments
well too, not virtuosic, but well enough to give them some “crit-cred”
(as opposed to “street cred”, dig?) – to coin a phrase…in other words,
they have the talent and the panache to back up their orgiastic party
romps,
their cleverly written tunes in which they let it all hang out, which
makes
it more fun to listen to – humorous songs that take you back to those
awkward
teenage days when anything went and you were immortal and knew
everything
and their was no consequences for any of your actions – not in the near
term, anyway and that’s all that mattered at the time – wasn’t it? So,
let’s mark them in the “Creative” box and go on from there. So, bottom
line – when you put on Let it Pee, leave your silly, old-fashioned
hang-ups
in the closet, like so many unused coats and hats.
So,
while The Wet Teens may be new
and therefore I can’t go on and compare this one to their old stuff, or
whatnot, I can just say that it doesn’t really do them justice to try
to
write what they’re all about, I can only describe it from my point of
view
and say that it’s worth a listen and then you’ll understand what I’m
talking
about.
The
CD opens with an apropos introduction
by Ron Jeremy (track 1) and then goes right into a song titled “Wet
Teens”
– I guess you could call it their mission statement. Two other tracks
that
may arouse your enthusiasm are “Stuck In You” and “Triple X Sex”. It’s
basically something you can use in place of the soundtrack for whatever
porn flick is in your DVD player, turn down the volume on the tube and
crank up the ‘Teens.
~
Kent Manthie, Reviewer Magazine
Born
out of a house fire, when the
nephew of the late Michael Mercury discovered his uncle's old demo
(from
the 1970s), The (revamped) Wet Teens play glam rock and early 1980s
style
music - full of lyrics about excess, exploits, and debauchery, all out
of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
If
you love 1980s cover bands, this
might be your ideal new glam rock band. With an album title like "Let
it
Pee" how could you not be intrigued? Their lyrics are explicit, their
guitar
lines intense, their drum beats driving, and we're sure their live show
would be invigorating.
Together
since 2004, but influenced
by music from 30 plus years ago, we're not really sure what their end
goal
may be, but they've creatively revived an era.
~
New Band Daily
Il
y a des disques dont l'histoire
est plus intéressante que la musique. Si l'on en croit le dossier
de presse (qui vaut le coup d'oeil), l'origine de celui-ci vient
directement
de la grande période du glam où un petit groupe local voit
son leader mourir après l'enregistrement de leur première
démo en raison de ses excès de débauche. Trente-cinq
ans plus tard, le neveu du chanteur découvre les bandes, adopte
la personnalité de son oncle et remonte le groupe pour nous offrir
ces chansons dans ce Let It Pee. Joli conte de fée mais n'écoutant
que son côté investigateur, le rédacteur de DLMDS va
chercher plus loin (et je vous promets que chercher The Wet Teens dans
un moteur de recherche, ce n'est pas Safe For Work comme on dit
là-bas...),
découvre que cet album est déjà sorti sur un petit
label il y a deux ans et que le groupe serait en fait composé de
différents membres de la scène locale (en l'occurence Myrtle
Beach, South Carolina). Moins glamour, mais après tout cela ne remet
pas en cause la version officielle, alors on va rester sur la
réincarnation...
La
musique ? Ca va venir, mais on
va d'abord parler du concept de l'album (et contrairement à ce que
le titre laisse penser, ce n'est pas une parodie d'un groupe célèbre)
qui est : parler de sexe. Si le premier titre 'An Introduction by Ron
Jeremy'
(double sens sans aucun doute volontaire) ne suffit pas à vous faire
comprendre (pas non plus Safe For Work à googliser pour ceux qui
ne connaitraient pas Ron Jeremy) qu'on va faire ici dans le cul bien
cru,
les titres les moins explicites, 'Stuck in You' et 'Love Cream'
devraient
sans problème vous en convaincre. Les textes sont pour le moins
graveleux, Micheal Mercury nous racontant sans fard ses (enfin celles
de
son oncle donc) expériences de débauché chronique
et ses petits plaisirs personnels, s'adonnant même à la simulation
d'orgasme (bouh, on n'y croit pas, simulateur !) sur la ballade 'Stuck
in You'. C'est pas fin (disons même carrément lourdaud), ça
ne s'écoute pas trop souvent mais c'est carrément beaucoup
plus rigolo que certains groupes anglais musicalement pas très éloignés
mais restant par trop sérieux (The Darkness, The Glitterati...).
Parce
que franchement, qui aurait
envie en 2010 d'écouter un groupe sérieux influencé
à parts égales par Judas Priest, AC/DC, Guns N'Roses, New
York Dolls et Blue Öyster Cult ? Un truc allant chercher par moment
dans le plus kitsch des trucs à grosses guitares allant du glam
au heavy metal ? Sans doute pas grand monde, et tout l'exploit de Wet
Teens
est d'avoir réussi à produire un pastiche à la fois
très drôle et respectueux, qui donne dans le délire
mais sonne authentique, ce qui lui permet de ne jamais donner
l'impression
de parodier le genre, comme Spinal Tap ou Tenacious D. Un truc de fans,
excellents musiciens au demeurant, se permettant un bon petit retour
dans
le passé tout en s'offrant (on l'espère en tout cas) une
bonne tranche de rigolade.
Bon,
comme toutes les bonnes plaisanteries,
et c'en est une autre de voir Let It Pee sortir chez Silber Records
label
réputé pour ses disques dans des genres moins... fun comme
ambient, post-rock ou slowcore, cet album est court et tout sauf
inoubliable.
Il a de bonnes chances de ne pas vous faire rire. Mais s'il y a en vous
une part d'ado attardé fan de riffs gras et de vannes salaces (à
moins que ce ne soit le contraire), ça vaut franchement le coup
de l'essayer.
~
Dans le mur du son
Già dal titolo dell'album, degno della peggior parodia a là Spinal Tap,
penso che si possa facilmente capire a che tipo di propostaccia
musicale andiamo incontro. Glam/hard rock maleducato, senza peli sulla
lingua, sudato e intriso di doppi sensi che neanche un treno in
galleria.
In realtà, la cosa più interessante del gruppo è la storia, di come il
gruppo origini da un'idea di Micheal Mercury, mai pienamente realizzata
per la prematura morte (di sifilide, naturalmente) di questi. Così, 25
anni dopo, il nipote di Micheal riesce a recuperare una demo tape e
s'innamora dell'idea di far ripartire la band e continuare il sogno
dello zio. Quindi, i pezzi sono esattamente gli stessi, per cui qui si
va ad arginare l'eventuale critica del "ehi ma queste canzoni sono
datate!", visto che è proprio quello l'intento dei nuovi Wet Teens.
A dirla tutta, le cinque canzoni non sono niente male, picchiando al
punto giusto e con luride liriche piuttosto ridicole, Sweet little fag
su tutte. Certo, è chiaro che aspettarsi qualcosa di più di un buon
hard rock sarebbe troppo, e francamente, bisognerà vedere come la band
se la caverà a scrivere pezzi per conto proprio. Anche perché la
conclusiva ballata Stuck in you è davvero un bel momento, se
riuscissero a mantenersi su questo livello, sarebbero da tener d'occhio.
Per ora, sporchiamoci di grasso e sudore e via.
~ Damiano Gerli, Kathodik
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