When searching for music online, bandnames / artwork / genres come before the actual music, because music fans tend to scout for their preferred genres, while also having a keen eye for attractive artwork. This is precisely why I consider Australian band Gay Paris to be an unusual good find, simply because having the term “Gay” in the bandname doesn’t go well with Rock/Metal, let alone adding Paris to it. However, their artwork, specifically the cover of their recent 2011 album “The Skeleton’s Problematic Granddaughter” appealed to me, so I decided to give this band a listen and they definitely surpassed my expectations.
Here’s how the band members describe themselves: “We’re bringing art back to music and rock back to rock n’ roll. We’re putting the Devil in a sweet red dress and heels made for cloven hooves and makin’ God dance with him until they put their differences aside and make sweet, blasphemous love in plain sight. We know what the people need even if they don’t want it yet.”, and most importantly their music’s description “It’s old and dirty, but so new it will give you a spanking…”.
So what do they mean by old and dirty? Well the closest thing to “dirty” in Metal music is Southern Metal / Sludge. The sheer heaviness of the vocals and the downtuned distortion in these genres is made popular by two bands, Pantera in the 90’s and Mastodon in the 21st century. Gay Paris goes even dirtier by having a vocal style similar to the one and only Tom Waits, so they’re basically playing Rock N’ Roll with Blues and Alternative Metal. Let me put it in another way, think of ‘a deranged AC/DC with Tom Waits on vocals‘. Fans of The White Stripes and Tom Morello will also enjoy the punk-like energy these guys bring with their great energetic riffing and memorable choruses.
Check out this official video of “The Black Tooth Supper Club“, the 3rd single from the album:
So basically if you enjoyed this previous video, this album will not disappoint you. The only ‘different’ song in the album might just be “Soliloquy From Ether Station“, a 3 minute song with no drums at all, but still having the best of the Southern influence, a “sing-along when you’re drunk” type of song with violin and tambourine.
Here’s another interesting tune from the album, the 2nd single entitled “House Fire In The Origami District“:
Give “The Skeleton’s Problematic Granddaughter” a listen if you enjoyed the videos above, you can also check the 1st single from the album on the band’s Youtube channel below.
