A band name like this one, goes perfectly well with the moddish pop art aesthetics of these Francophonic beatsters, stuck in the mid-to-end sixties (which is a good thing by the way!).
The general vibe over this half-a-decade legacy is mostly made of mod/freakbeat creations, full of power-chords, fuzzy solos, Entwistling bass bravados, Moon-iacal rhythms and moogy sound effects, with Shel Talmy’s shadow all over the place, sometimes sounding like Brendan Lynch re-mixing some authentic sixteez recordings.
The CD gathers Bang!’s three releases of their own and several compilation appearances (all on vinyl!).
The debut 1997 single features Astro Kid which, for a moment, made me compare it to whatever would’ve been if Eddie Phillips did accept to join The Who (though he says that he was never really offered to do so, but I hate to spoil the legend), and Another Sickness, kind of a MODernized take on The Animal’s version of Bright Lights, Big City, with some mean feedBECK.
Straight Shooter sounds like the early ‘Stones, if they were a pure mod/freakbeat band, along with the Brian Jones-like slides, and there’s also a coupla darker sounding psych tunes (Lightning, Cinnamon Fiend and a cover of The Seeds’ Fowley-written Wild Blood) spread over the next two releases on the Australian Corduroy (just like the debut single) and the Italian Teen Sound.
Besides these, the two EPs also offer some Hank Marvin-tage soloing (as a part of the otherwise another mod beat of A Secret Revolution), the super-funky Mr. Immediate and a pair of Britsikin’ tunes: Cousin Clyde (an imaginary Syd’n’Roky collaboration = the ultimate weirdo session?!) and another piece of pure Who-ish quirkiness called Unknown Band.
So, you had enough of the moderndaze? … get yourself into the Bang!-maze and experience the betterdaze, which are still sure to amaze !!! Widen your “scope” (which is the band’s current name by the way) !!!
[Self-released 2003]
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