The Brains – Self-Titled

The Brains have been around Montreal’s psychobilly scene for several solid years now, and they have amassed quite the following.  Enough in fact to have gained the attention and respect of Montreal’s reputable Stomp Records.  The former ska-centric label has been expanding its musical scope for the past couple years now, and psychobilly seems to be a new focus.  But unfortunately, signing The Brainsfeels more like the label is just riding with current trends, rather than a genuine interest in the emerging genre.

When is comes right down to it, The Brains sound like a “me too” band trying to hop onto the psychobilly bandwagon.  I wouldn’t be surprised if they simply went down a checklist of psychobilly essentials to form their sound – goofy zombie make-up meticulously applied? Check.  Lyrics about zombies, blood, and guts?  Check.  A slightly poppy tinge over laid on a psychobilly backdrop (to ensure mainstream appeal)?  Check.  In other words, they have very little in terms of real drive, and sound derivative at best.  But while the band at least sounded like they were having fun with their subject matter in previous releases – comedic commentary accompanied many tracks – their self titled album discards this fun in favour of some of the most generic, monotonous lyrics in the already cliched genre.

My biggest issue with the lyrics is that they are incredibly vague and repetitive.  For example, in the album opener, “Thirty Days,” lead vocalist Rene De La Muerte sings “I’ve been on the road, I’ve seen all these bones, the skeletons screaming is all I could hear but now that I’m done the fun has began.”  The song continues with references to “creeps” and doing “sins.”  The part that troubles me is the gross lack of specifics.  Who is this guy? Where is “the road” going? And what does he mean by “the fun has begun?”  The song’s scope is so wide that it simply never develops any clear direction or even gives a decent description of any of these characters or events.  In other words, it’s just boring.  The next song, “Turn Around,” is just as boring – specifically, the chorus just feels sloppy: “Turn around and see you in the corner, drinking blood, walking upside down to the corner, drinking blood.”  Again, who is this, where are we, and why is this happening?  The album’s generic feeling stems from lyrics that time after time fail at creating any atmosphere – In other words, each song feels creatively baron.

Having detailed their shortcomings, the troubling part is just how well received The Brains have been by their peers – The Creepshow‘s Sarah Sin even makes a guest appearance on the album.  Other Psychobilly bands have had nothing but good things to say about them.  The Matadors’ frontman “Hooch” included The Brains on his small list of Montreal psychobilly bands that matter, and Legendary Montreal Psychobilly outfit The Gutter Demons even brought in Rene De La Muerte to help produce one of their albums.  Maybe I’m missing something, maybe I’m not, but for the life of me, I just can’t get into anything on The Brains third record.

I should mention though, that musically The Brains are quite proficient.  They have a great upright bassist, and their spooky guitar distortion fits nicely with the genre.  Even so, the lyrics feel so uninspired that even adequate musical backing can’t spice up such a lack of inspiration.