THE HUMPERS
War Is Hell (Listen Loudest!)
Reviewed by Alan Wright

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If you know anything about cool rock 'n' roll from the last ten years, then I don't need to tell you about the Humpers, do I? Okay, maybe I do, so a little history here: back in 1990, I began a correspondence with the then-Yugoslavian label Listen Loudest!, and owner Zdenko sent me a bunch of cassette and vinyl releases. One was by a band called the Suicide Kings, who'd already morphed into the Humpers, and he'd also released their first LP, My Machine, as well. To put it mildly, I went apeshit over these guys, who soon enough began garnering attention and signed to Epitaph later on. This release is culled from a Spring '91 session and features a great selection of raw and rougher versions of tunes that would show up on later Humpers albums in slightly more polished sound. There are a few that I don't think they ever recorded, like their kickass cover of "19th Nervous Breakdown," for example. Also, I don't think they ever redid "Cast 100 Shadows," "Love Ain't Blind" and "It's A Crime." There are really energetic takes of songs like "Zombie," "Up Your Heart," the MC5's "Rocket Reducer # 62" and the title track. This is really rockin' stuff!

[Pick this up at www.gla.ac.uk/~dc4w/listenloudest.]

© 2003 - Alan Wright