This came out in 2000 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Q: “Would you say that your songs are about liquor, women, drugs and killing for the most part?” A: “Yep.”
That snippet of between-song patter — apparently a clip from an interview — encapsulates what many fans love about rawk blockheads The Supersuckers. First and foremost, of course, you’ve gotta applaud anybody in today’s bubble-pop world who still worships at the unholy altar of sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. But what is really admirable about the ’Suckers is that they do it with their heads held high. Like the last followers of some ancient cult, these boys stubbornly cling to the belief that deep down, rock really is the devil’s music: Loud, fast, crude, sexy and sinful enough to send you to hell — at least, if you’re doing it right.
On their latest blistering blast The Evil Powers of Rock ’n’ Roll, they’re most definitely doing it right. Again. The latter half of the ’90s hasn’t been good to the band — one member left the fold for a while, they reportedly lost control of their enthusiastic drug habits (I once saw them nag a bar crowd for weed between songs), they cut a country record that was less-than-enthusiastically received, and record business hoo-hah left them recording an album that was never released. But what didn’t kill them has made them stronger; Evil Powers is a return to form for singer/bassist Eddie Spaghetti, drummer Dan (Dancing Eagle) Siegel and guitarists Ron(trose) Heathman and Dan (Thunder) Bolton, whose last rock outing as a unit was ’94’s awesome La Mano Cornuda (one of my top 10 albums of that year).
Cornuda is a tough mark to beat, but Evil Powers gives it a helluva run for the money. Blasting out of the blocks with the opening title cut’s churning, four-on-the-floor guitar and badass lyrics (“Got evil blood and a twisted mind / Everywhere I go … trouble won’t be far behind”), Eddie and co. make up for lost time with a 35-minute, pedal-to-the-metal celebration of rawk in all its pistol-packing, amps-on-11, feedback-drenched, wah-wah stomping glory. Cool Manchu borrows its vibe from classic AC/DC, Fisticuffs is a bare-knuckle ode to back-alley brawling, and My Kickass Life might nbe the best rock ’n’ roll song about rock ’n’ roll they’ve written since Gold Top, a love letter to their Les Pauls.
This time around, however, Eddie also pens a few love letters to living beings. Rootsier, loping tracks such as Santa Rita High, Goin’ Back to Tucson, Stuff ’n’ Nonsense and Dirt Roads, Dead Ends and Dust all deal with lost years, missed boats and last chances that never panned out. But fear not; Eddie’s nostalgic reveries only last until the guitar solo. And even on the wimpiest tune here, Supersuckers still live by that golden rule of rock (and other nefarious activities, judging by the lyrics to the track I Want The Drugs): “If some is good, then more is great.”
Yep.
