‘Lets Kill Rock and Roll’ is the umpteenth studio album from The Erotics but this one is with a twist and boy does the twist suit The Erotics. In early 2020, The Erotics began writing and rehearsing a batch of new songs set to become the band’s next record. As the songs streamed out of Mike Trash’s fretboard, the band frantically rehearsed and defined all the details of the songs, working to batten down the hatches for the rapidly approaching studio date of Feb 20,2020.
Of course, never being a band to play it safe, The Erotics decided to do the only sensible thing: throw caution to the wind and invite a contingent of dedicated fans to Don Fury Studio to take part in a live recording of 12…no make that 13…wait, on second thought, how about 14 brand new songs! It’s rough, it’s raw but with a Rocky Balboa punch it’s sleazy, it’s glamourous but of course, its got that dirty punk rock attitude you want from The Erotics. If you’re already a fan then you should know what to expect and if this is your first tentative footsteps into the world of Mike Trash and his band The Erotics then welcome on board. Opening with the title track proper notwithstanding the instrumental opening the invited guests howl their approval as the guitars get louder and a little rawer (if that’s possible) It’s a brave move unleashing new tunes on fans live in the studio and capturing the performance like this but the DC inspired ‘Lie My Way Into Hell’ is hauling around a fair sized pair of rock and roll bollocks that swing to the beat right up to the middle eight and breakdown post dueling guitars.
I hope there were monitor wedges for these Rockers to put their feet on as they throw out the shapes as ‘Lie My Way’ leads into the powerful ‘Monday Morning Meltdown’ but there’s no time to rest as the band speed off with the ‘Head Of The Low Class’. The beauty of The Erotics is they keep it simple and stick to exactly what they’re good at and are clearly comfortable with. Man ‘You’re History’ even has cowbell to go with the sleazy cockrock riffage and we all know you can’t get too much cowbell. We head out on a rollercoaster ride of fast and more solid Rock tunes and when ‘Wrong Kind Of Love’ ends the audience sounds like they’re having a real blast.
Our Man Dan Kasm had this to say about the release,
“Live albums are a mixed bag really. The true greats are stand out bodies of work, an advert swaying the consumer to purchase tickets at their earliest opportunity, and the rest pale in comparison. Unfortunately, this particular release falls into category B.
I’m not very familiar with the Erotics apart from the odd track, but always liked what I had heard with a mental note to pursue them further. Hoping that a live album would make a good introduction to their work and overall sound. The album takes a few tracks to finally get going, ‘Monday Morning Meltdown’ having a fantastic groove but perhaps not selling itself in the best way on this recording. There are some great guitar licks here but they sound almost stifled in overly safe sound mix.
The strongest song on the album for me has to be ‘The Wrong Kind of Love Song’. A definite future single that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Michael Monroe album.
The album finishes with the introduction of the self-proclaimed heaviest song on the record ‘Fighting Like Cats and Dogs’. The riffs are pure AC/DC in parts but the song is a little too short and leaves you feeling short-changed.
I’d definitely consider seeing the Erotics live but this recording has left me lukewarm. Kiss Alice II it is not.”
Review: Dan Kasm
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