Thank You for Thanking You
While the Dixie Chicks keep whining about their horrific period of persecution-the one that culminated with an Entertainment Weekly cover-we've got a stellar week of real artists who've actually offended their fans. The Pretenders have easily sold out Irving Plaza while promoting the surprisingly impressive Pirate Radio box set. It doesn't even matter that Chrissie Hynde has cheered for the deaths of U.S. soldiers. At least she's never played the martyr all Dixie Chick-stylee.
Neither did the great Eartha Kitt, who was scheduled for residency at Café Carlyle (the show was recently postponed) and is still unrepentant about pestering Lady Byrd Johnson about Vietnam. It's also no surprise that Burt Bacharach needs two nights at B.B. King's to promote his new leftist album At This Time.
After all, it's difficult to get offended by entertainers. They're often meant to be laughable. Still, there's something genuinely offensive about Evans Blue's major label debut with The Melody And The Energetic Nature of Volume-and it's not just their slavish devotion to a nu-metal (sorry, "alternative hard rock") sound that'll only be more dated as soon as Tool releases that new album.
Instead, Evans Blue truly becomes offensive with the dumbest "Thank You" list in the history of rock. And, yes, even rap.
A lengthy explanation of the album title already ranks Evans Blue alongside Iron Butterfly in the history of pretentious liner notes. Singularly-named frontman Matisyn, however, sums up the band's sad posings when he gives thanks to "God (not in a cliché/trendy way)." There certainly can't be anything cliché or trendy about Matisyn-especially when he ends his long list of thanks with the following: "All of Matisyn's tattoos were done by Wayne Galbraith from Tora Tattoo in Waterloo, and his piercings were done by Tye."
None of those piercings and tattoos are clichéd or trendy, though. Not in the least. Anyway, Evans Blue are doing okay with a decent single, and they'll have to play their Sarah McLachlan cover simply because it's the only interesting moment on the entire album. Go and have a good laugh now, and pick up the CD in the $1 section after a few months. Don't wait too long, though. Iron Butterfly vinyl eventually got expensive.