Nuclear Boots
Idiots in the City
self-released
Click to hear: “Tie u Up”
The garage-punk trio Nuclear Boots aims low and hits the target about half the time on its first album, Idiots in the City. The four or five listenable songs among the eight here sound like Iggy Pop’s high school band — simple, snarly, sloppy rock delivered with a refreshing lack of pretension.
“Late Nights” kicks things off with a cro-mag riff and a killer opening lyric: “I saw you / walking down / Hanover Street / last week / You had a ball of meat / in your hand.” The slinky beat of “Tie u Up,” courtesy of bassist Miles Comparetto and the indefatigable drummer Bruce Merson, whose high-hat hits are practically jazz, will never get old.
Singer/guitarist Zeke Comparetto saves the loping, love-sick ballad “Never be the Same” from the dust bin with left-field lyrics like this: “Poster child of a modern fate / Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae / Bombs are fallin’ like bloody knives / People runnin’ for their lives / It’ll never be the same … without you.”
On the flip side, “Haddock” is just too stupid to live. The tired three-chord slog of “Sister Suzie” should be put out of its misery well before the extraneous solo. Zeke’s way-over-the-top solo on “Sail Away” is the only reason to endure this song.
Idiots is a fun, flawed record. The less seriously you take it, the better.
— Chris Busby
The entire album can be heard at nuclearboots.bandcamp.com.
