First and foremost, New Orleans-based Supagroup deserves a big thank you for its efforts in making the mullet fashionable again. Then again, listening to the music, you get the impression that for brothers Chris and Benji Lee, the mullet never really went out of style, it was just in rock ‘n’ roll hibernation.
Purveyors of loud, fast, bombastic rock, the Lee brothers, with Leif Robinson Swift on bass and Michael Brueggen on drums, deliver music that makes you wonder what ever happened to AC/DC or Aerosmith (pre-“Armageddon”) or Iron Maiden?
It’s no coincidence then that lead guitarist Benji Lee offers up guitar riffs that border on sly rip-offs of Angus Young, and lead singer Chris Lee sounds like Steven Tyler after an all-night whiskey binge. It’s all in good fun though, and it makes you too happy to even care that it sounds exactly like someone else.
And that’s the most important thing about Supagroup: You have fun listening to its records.
On the opening track “Ready To Go” from their soon-to-be-released sophomore effort “Rules,” Lee promises “all I really wanna do is rock your socks off.”
Can you imagine Linkin Park or some other rap/rock band writing something that’s unabashedly cheesy? Luckily, Supagroup backs up its cheese with plenty of swagger and head-banging rhythms. Tracks such as “Lets Go (Get Wasted)” and “Invincible Me” sound like the soundtrack to a barroom brawl.
Occasionally the group does hint at a softer, yet thankfully not power ballad, side (think something like whatever Scott Weiland is singing) on tracks such as “I’m Gonna Change” and “Rough Edge.”
Fortunately “Rules” never veers too far into the “Hey, I’m cool because I’m tortured and depressed” territory – something that every Kurt Cobain/Eddie Vedder wannabe has subjected us to since the early 90s.
Production-wise, the album has a live act feel to it that emphasizes the bands intensity. Produced, recorded and mixed by Kevin “Caveman” Shirley (The Darkness, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin and Iron Maiden), “Rules” pretty much takes over where their debut left off, which bodes well for the already critically acclaimed band.
Clearly Supagroup is primed for rock stardom – they have opened for Alice Cooper, Drive-By Truckers, Supersuckers and Queens of the Stone Age. Their press kit sports one superlative after another from the likes of heavyweights such as Rolling Stone, Billboard and Metal Edge. This summer includes a stop at the venerable South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas.
While it’s a stretch to call Supagroup the sole saviors of rock. They’re certainly among a wave of promising new artists. But if you are looking for something a little less glam than the Darkness, a little less arty than Franz Ferdinand and less new wave than the Killers, then you should look no further than Supagroup.
Like Lee says on the driving first single “It Takes Balls,” rock and roll tried to ruin my life, but now rock and roll never felt so right.
Chuck Alexander can be reached at [email protected].
