By Keith Walsh
The new album by Abusements, Grievance Beerwater Reprisal, combines psychedelia, southern rock, pop and punk in a mix that bubbles with creative energy. The five piece band from Alabama is relatively new, formed in 2017 by lyricist and frontman DJ Fake Name (Todd Souvignier), who also adds piano and synth, with drummer Dominique Bradley, Sr. signing on as musical director, along with bass and vocals by Lyra Stephens, and guitars by Wil Evans and Jay Hensley. B3 organ is added by Terrell Wright.
The band name alone is loaded with meaning, pointing to not only an excess of emotion, but also a condition in which bad choices from either ‘us or them,’ without any imminent solution, leads to the logical question “why not just get a band together and complain a bit, very loudly?”
From the first song, “Banned,” the five piece entity launches into a criticism of the narrow mindedness of their hometown, of Montgomery, Alabama. Some of the guitar tones, like on the second track “Heaven,” are in the grandiose tradition of other southern bands like Marshall Tucker and Lynyrd Skynyrd, though the approach here is spirited and rebellious rather than stoned and chicken fried.
The third track celebrates the famed ADHD treatment, “Adderall.” Just when it seems that Grievance Beerwater Reprisal has settled into a punk rock aesthetic, a song like “Mind” pops up, a jaunty piece not unlike 60s dance hall or Syd Barrett, and based on a piano rhythm. “Alabamastan” is another political piece, channeling the aggressive social criticism of Dead Kennedys to skewer the provincial mindset of their Southern homeland. The band’s excitement about the creativity of punk rock is clear, and their willingness to break out of cliches and expectations makes the music of Abusements even more special.
“Evel” is more grunge punk, with a retro vibe, celebrating the great adventure hero. “Howard” lampoons the American entrepreneur who survived a plane crash to found an aerospace empire. “G” features some cool tremolo distorted guitar and sinister vocals put through a high pass filter, to comment on the shadowy figure G. Gordon Liddy. “Unwind” is another alt pop psychedelic piece with echoey twangy guitar and electric piano – very far from aggro punk. In addition to the obsession with critiquing shadowy American icons, the trippy explorations here carry echoes of the 60s.
The earlier single “Buzzkill” encapsulates the band’s message of spirited defiance, as they push back against the banality of hypocrisy. Grievance Beerwater Reprisal is a defiantly aggressive and campy album that exploits rock riffs and tropes skillfully, but only in the service of bringing to light the vapidity of standard rock and roll with its empty lyrical tropes, as well as lampooning aspects of intolerance and hubris in society today. Grievance Beerwater Reprisal is on American Leather Records. It is the third album by Abusements.
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