Self-Titled

CD Cover Fireweed
Independent Cassette

Review by Alphonse Leong


The biggest display of guts on this four-song tape is that one of the guys has the gumption to call himself 'generic george.' Unfortunately, the name is all too apt, as his guitar-playing is as unremarkable as that of one of Don Henley's studio boys.

As for the material, "hiding" and "vacancy" start out promisingly with brooding grooves, but then dissolve into dismissable sludgy stuff. The other two songs, "modern jesus" and "sugarcoat," are boring right from the get-go, as the arrangements and Mark Brooks' oh-so-contemporary voice do nothing to excite you. I'm sorry, but a line like "Tired of a working wage/The singer takes the stage" (from "modern jesus") may be an attempt to be clever, but it hits me like a self-absorbed nursery rhyme.

Believe me, it's no fun to slag an aspiring act, but I look for some genuine and inspired attempt to express emotion in music, and I just can't find it here. But then, anybody who calls himself 'generic' should be detached enough to handle criticism well.


Artist Contact Info: Box 11581, 650 W. Georgia St., Vancouver, B.C., Canada, V6B 4N8



First published in Drop-D Magazine on April 25, 1998

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