Sweet Baby- "It's A Girl!" Eccentric Pop Records Reissue by Danny "Panic" Sullivan

When I first heard about this reissue happening, I was both very excited and wanted to celebrate it in some way! Being that Ramona Confidential has never taken a standard news approach and reviewing a reissue is something I don't generally do, I racked my little Dee Dee brain for inspiration and then it happened, a light turned on! In thinking of this obscure gem being reintroduced to the scene 25 years after it's initial appearance, what better way to mark the occasion than by bringing a well loved member of pop punk's rich lineage out of obscurity to talk about it? That turned my attention directly to Danny "Panic" Sullivan. There's at least a thousand reasons to admire this man in just viewing the monumental contribution he's made as a musician to our community but with the great fortune of  becoming a friend of his over the last year, I've discovered that his well spoken ability to talk about music is also something I enjoy about this architect of the 90's very much! This along with the great love he's expressed for Sweet Baby's "It's A Girl!" made him the perfect and only candidate I desired for the job, so one evening with my "more guts than brains" approach, I asked him if he'd care to write a piece about this record that I could share with you all. Luckily he agreed! Make sure to stop by the Eccentric Pop Records webstore or Interpunk(that's the only place now to get the bonus 7" bundle from!) if you've not preordered the record yet because it is selling FAST. Official release date happens on April 7th for this beautifully put together reissue and this is where my chatter ends. Here he is, the wonderful Danny "Panic" Sullivan giving his personal take on Sweet Baby's "It's A Girl!"     

Sweet Baby "It's A Girl!"

A Wordy Scribe About A Deceptively Smart Album For Romantic Dummies.                   

Sweet Baby - an East Bay pop-punk band that was criminally ignored/underrated during their brief existence & their sole album "It's A Girl!" deserves to be emblazoned in the pantheon of classic albums in our beloved & misanthropic genre of  punk rock.

I was introduced to this prodigious album through a friend/bandmate in a (also) short-lived punk band we were both in. He was one of the lucky few who actually had the vinyl copy of this melodic gem while I had to resign myself to the cassette format (which I had purchased thricely over time due to excessive playing).

The albums' hold on me was immediate for a few good reasons:

1.  Musically - it was an amalgamation of early era Beatles (especially the chord structures & harmonies) & the Ramones (concise & rambunctious).
2.  Lyrically - it tackled all the profundities regarding romance (yearning, having & losing) & the words were sometimes sincere, sometimes humorous & sometimes both.
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3.  Thirteen songs in  just over twenty five minutes.  Melodic AND economical!

Recorded in 1988 by engineer/producer extraordinaire Kevin Army, "It's A Girl!" has not aged sonically or lyrically (um...correction on my behalf. The song "Telephone Booth" bellies it's lyrical age due to telephone booths being rather scarce as of 2015 compared to the halcyon days of the eighties).

The opening salvo of "It's A Girl!", "Baby, Baby, Baby Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby (I Love You)" (all one minute & eleven seconds of it) signals the intent & nature of the  the album & will not likely be misconstrued as a convoluted civics lesson, an explanation of binary arithmetic or a passionate dissertation of religious or political didacticism. This song would make both the Beatles & the Ramones proud....& there's still twelve to go!

Being that "It's A Girl!" is about a girl, or a myriad of them, the genius prevails throughout the album from the three profundities I mentioned above:

Yearning for the girl- the songs "Two Tons of Dynamite", "There's This Girl" & "Gotta Get A Girl" all exemplify this feeling & the song "This Talk About The Girl" adds an insouciant cognizance towards current events compared to the more topical, more important girl.

Having the girl- from the joyous ("Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby (I Love You)",  "She's From Salinas" & "Resuscitation"), to the demented ("The Way She Gets Around"), these songs exemplify the punch drunk feeling of being in love.

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Losing the girl- "Year After Year", "Telephone Booth" & "Pathetic" embody the despair of romantic love lost. "Pathetic" has to be quite possibly the most mirthful sounding song in modern recorded music to report on a break-up.

Additional props go to "She's From Salinas" for the Venus de Milo reference (absolutely clever) & their cover of "Daddy Cool" that respects both the Rays & Darts versions, but gives it a British Invasion/punk kick in the proverbial pants.

The album naturally wouldn't exist without the band of course. My appreciations to Dallas-for his sundry, sincere vocals & his engaging charisma throughout the album; Matt-for his knack for brilliant guitar/chord structures & his Lennon-esque backing vocals; Richard - for his bass playing adaptability, switching from Dee Dee Ramone root notes on one song to Paul McCartney walking bass runs on another with such ease & Sergie-for his melodic drumming , encapsulating a saunter & shuffle with punk rock energy.

Thank you Sweet Baby for making, to these eyes, ears, nose & throat, the best East Bay pop-punk album of all time! May this reissue garner the attention "It's A Girl!" & the four of you so richly deserve!

A special thanks to Sara for letting me pontificate, Eccentric Pop Records lovingly reissuing this masterpiece & Scott "Gub" Conway for turning me on to Sweet Baby in the first place.

XO
Danny "Panic" Sullivan
Somewhere on earth...

The Dumbheads- Heartbroken Idiots

As someone who takes the typical, old fart punk rocker route with the digital age, I tend to turn my nose up at it in many ways! There's a certain sense of wonder that the younger generation will never know with the rush that comes from hanging out in a record store for hours, looking for that one big score of the day. Carefully analyzing LP jacket covers and taking in all the sensory elements that just don't exist behind a computer screen are a huge loss in my opinion, but even I will admit there is one thing I really like about these newer times that wasn't so easy before! The part I enjoy most about our little underground world in present day is how much easier it is to discover new bands. That expanded view of what's going on is something that makes this girl Dee Dee rather happy and as a music writer I'm always combing the globe for punk rockers who are deserving of attention! Sometime around the beginning of last year, I came across a demo from a band called The Dumbheads that I really liked. Then through the powers of social networking, I befriended one of their members, Alex Dumbhead. After helping him out with checking the English on some of their lyrics, my interest in the band grew and I've been watching closely to see when the album would happen for this pop punk/punk rock quartet based out of Belgorod, Russia. Fast forward to about a year or so later and it's finally arrived! A collection of songs going under the name of "Heartbroken Idiots" and that's what I'll be recommending today!

The songs were recorded in a few different phases starting with the drums in May of 2014 at Nu Sound Studio by Sergey Androsov who also did mixing and mastering. Next, the guitar and bass parts were tracked at their rehearsal room by a friend of the band named Ivan, and then all vocal parts were completed last during late Summer to mid Fall by the band themselves. Even with the parts being divided this way, the overall sound is seamless and everyone did a great job! The cover art done by Kirill SKVRT is cool, a sketch showing the torso of a punk rocker dressed up in a leather and a Ramones shirt. Classic! I always really like red, white, and black imagery too. This was executed well along with the layout done by Dmitry Bodrov. Dmitry also holds another role in this release by his starting up a label called Pleasant Screams Records to do a short run of CDs for it! Official release happened on February 24th,2015 and is available either on CD as mentioned before or you can also get it digitally on The Dumbheads bandcamp page where it is also streaming in full! As luck has it, their free downloads on bandcamp are used up for now but they want to make sure everyone can still get it at no cost and were awesome enough to provide me with a mediafire link to the MP3s! Click here to be directed to that.

Music is just the same as romance for me. It's gotta grab you in less than a minute and hold your interest without any voluntary efforts. That's when you know it's good, and that was the experience I had heading into the first track, "Hide'n'Seek". Starting with a solid 90's pop punk influenced foundation(from bands like The Riverdales, Hanson Brothers, Huntingtons, and Manges),  then some early punk rock sensibility added in and a few melodic touches, the end result is a highly catchy sound! Alex Dumbhead is a natural with his beautiful voice that commands your attention with it's power as he narrates a frenzied story of terror, being stalked as prey. The kick ass guitars, bass lines, drumming, and solo reveal these boys are well rehearsed and they had me hooked! The mid-tempoed "Wait It Through", a song about getting over a rough time follows and is my absolute favorite of the album. Now it's time for Alex Boozer to step up and do some lead vocals on "Don't Wanna Walk Around With You". Evenly matched to Alex D, he's got a strong tone as well with a more melodic approach and a simple song that's easy to figure out from the title turns out beautifully. The title track "Heartbroken Idiot" comes in fourth. This was the first song I heard from these guys in a demo version and it's nice to hear it with a greater fullness. Simply a message of chasing away a broken heart with booze is something most of us can relate to and it's got a great hook! What I like most about this band is that they don't stay on one track lyrically. They move from dark, to romance, to introspective, and there's some humor to be found as well! "Petfucker Monster(From Outer Space)" made me crack up with laughter. I love seeing bands throw caution to the wind and do something absurd because that's a tradition in our realm! From the very start of punk rock's existence in songs like Beat On The Brat, it's always been there and needs to keep going. That's what separates us from the crybaby emo people! To list a few more highlights, you'll find a fantastic cover of The Kids "Do You Wanna Know?" that I adore , another excellent love song "By My Side" that is my second favorite, and  there's also a wonderfully arranged ballad, "My Love Is True". Things wrap up just as fast as they started with "Bad Trip" and my natural choice is just to go back to the start of the album for a repeat.

"Heartbroken Idiots" is nothing short of a great introduction to some cool rockers from Russia so I most certainly suggest for it to be checked out and added into your rotations. Go like The Dumbheads facebook page because new plans are already in the works with a six song EP set for release in the Fall that they currently are seeking label support for. I think they're definitely worthy of being on vinyl and will be looking forward to hearing that. It's always nice to find a new band to get into because that's something that doesn't happen so often for me these days and I think these boys will be holding my attention for awhile. 

The Dumbheads are...

Alex Boozer- Vocals and Guitar

Mighty- Guitar

Alex Dumbhead- Vocals and Bass

Gleb Hleb- Drums

All songs written by The Dumbheads except for "Do You Wanna Know?", written by The Kids

Tracks

1. Hide'n'Seek

2. Wait It Through

3. Don't Wanna Walk Around With You

4. Heartbroken Idiot

5. Petfucker Monster(From Outer Space)

6. Motherfucker

7. Fuck You

8. Mutated Rats

9. I Can't Stop Staring At You

10. My Love Is True

11. Do You Wanna Know?

12. Stuck In My Head 

13. Dark Eyes

14. By My Side

15. Bad Trip