The Dallas Scene
New records by the Fags and the Deathray Davies on Idol Records.

By Mark Prindle
www.markprindle.com

The Deathray Davies
The Day of the Ray
(Idol Records, 2002)

This is the third album for the Dallas, Texas band, Deathray Davies (Get it? DO YOU GET IT?? Death-RAY DAVIES???), a six-piece, guitar-heavy "power poop" band that has one member credited with nothing but "shakers."

If I were in the band, and that guy got a full percentage of band royalties, I'd kick his shaker ass. There's nothing remotely Kinkish on this record unless you're talking about the mediocre crap those guys put out in the '80s.

There's an organ and some Cheap Trick ripoffs and tired old E-A-D-style guitar riffs. I'm SO sick of riffs like "The Aztec God" - you CAN'T tell me you haven't heard that lame riff by a hundred thousand other bands that never went anywhere.

Not to mention all the "vocal hooks" with a whole bunch of notes, but no actual "hook" that you'll remember even seconds after the song ends.

Playing la-de-da pop music and writing timeless melodies are two different things - these guys do one but not the other.

NO THANKS to the Deathray Davies. Bad name, bad album.

The Fags
The Fags EP
(Idol Records, 2002)

I can't believe that, this late in the course of human history, a happy heavy guitar-powered Detroit pop trio providing a dandy balance between Cheap Trick rockingness and Matthew Sweet sissiness (or vice-versa), would go out of their way to choose a name so offensive, so DISGUSTING, so childish, and so literally dangerous, as to render themselves 100% unplayable on most of the FM hit radio stations that would otherwise be happy to promote their '70s-retro simplicity and head-bopping obvious-hookiness.

But choose so, they did. And until America finally comes to terms with the fact that young people will always be interested in smoking cigarettes, no matter how tough our anti-smoking policies and propaganda, I'm afraid the Fags will be forever snubbed out in the ashtray of obscurity.

However, if you like Cheap Trick, and don't get irritated by ages-old chord sequences, as long as they're assisted by a guy with a (Matthew) sweet, slightly Zander-esque voice, and a lead guitarist who loves high anthemic chiming power chords - you'll be sucking the Fags' dicks in no time.

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