THE CHECKERS
Make A Move (Teenacide)
Reviewed by Alan Wright

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Sporting a look that seems to be more 1979 that 2003, this California four-piece aim to challenge you to jump onto their board. Well, I'm game. Puns aside, the Checkers include singer Julie Vox (a.k.a. photographer Julie Pavlowski), guitarist G.G. King (The Verdicts, Nervous Shakedowns), bassist Chris Barfield (The Go Nuts, Huntington Cads) and drummer Mark Reback. With Julie's powerpop siren squeaky vocals topping a tasty concoction of punky guitars and infectious beats, it's hard not to want to shake and shimmy to their tunes. "Is He In?" and "You Don't Wanna Know" sound like the best of early Blondie, the Photos, the Go Gos, Rezillos and others. They cover such '70s obscurities as Felony's oddball tune "The Fanatic" (featured on the "Valley Girl" soundtrack) and the Stripes' "Observer." When Julie sings "I'm a bad girl" in "Bad Girl" (duh) you just know she is. When she moans "dirty movies turn me on" in their amped up version of "The Fanatic," it makes me feel all, um, goosebumpy. Yeah, this is really excellent!

[Pick this up at www.disgruntledmusic.com.]

© 2003 - Alan Wright