Just over a year ago I featured this due as Band of the Day in the run-up to their debut album. We’re not on the verge of them releasing album number two, Shake the Breakdown, on September 15th.
The previous album collected tracks written over the band’s – at the time – eight year history. Shake the Breakdown is their first “let’s sit down and write it” effort and it’s lost none of the rough charm as a result. Consisting of only two (drums, a single guitar and both doing vocals), it staggering to hear as “big” a sound as you get on this album.
While very much a hard rock outfit, there are a lot of influences from offshoot genres – grungy, distorted vocals; bluesy riffs; punk attitude; a touch of glam / sleeze… It’s a wonderful collection.
The grunge sound comes to the fore with “Get Away” which had me harking back to Nirvana’s classic Nevermind. A couple of tracks later and you have a country-laden footstomper in “Sin For Your Lovin'”. Then you know what, bugger it, let’s have a heavily distorted cover of Queen’s “Fat Bottomed Girls” because this is a rock album and it’s a rock song and…
It’s pretty much at this point that you figure out, if you hadn’t already, that Jackson Firebird are in this for the sheer, ever-loving hell of it. They don’t give a damn about anything other than laying down great songs and having fun doing it.
“Devil’s Door” could have been written for Faster Pussycat – and features the cleanest (in of distortion) vocals on the album. The tempo drops a bit by the time we arrive at “Sick ‘n’ Tired” which starts of deep in stoner territory before knocking on Sum-41’s door and asking if they want to come out to play.
Before hitting us with the title track, we get an utterly mad rendition of “The Clapping Song” (you know it, even if you don’t know the title) re-affirming Jackson Firebird’s nut-job credentials.
Shake the Breakdown is a great album musically, but the icing on the cake is that it’s just such damn good fun. I’d love to catch these guys live – if they can entertain as well between songs as they do during then they’ll be superb.
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