Album Review: Some Jerks - Buddy Rich Made Me Cry

Sometimes, as much as the ever-multiplying batch of garage bands in our fair city is incredible, there's a desire for something more. Not a different style – most members of the movement bed-hop all over the shop, creating myriad bands of differing degrees and variants – just variety within a given dynamic. And with Buddy Rich Made Me Cry, irascible trio Some Jerks have attempted to do just that.

Coming from differing musical backgrounds (The Aampirellas, Los Huevos, Kewpiedoll), it makes sense that Buddy Rich Made Me Cry is an eclectic yet no less frenetic collection of songs. Opening with an easy swing in the step care of Cold Dark Night, and a dark coquettishness with Waiting For You, the band show the two sides of lead singer/bassist Vicki Watson, at once head-bopping '60s swing and Joan Jett-aping snarl and snap.

The title track (a nod to the jazz drummer's infamous tour spat) is a tight little rock song that ties these two elements together, sounding like Sleater-Kinney covering the Shangri-Las, with the harmonies from guitarist Will O'Brien evident for the first time. Watson's voice is incredibly strong here, brought forth in the mix by producer Skritch Trembles, but O'Brien takes the lead vocals on the one-two punch of I Want You and Go My Way with utmost confidence, and his guitarwork here shines. Simon Walker is a metronome behind the skins, and as the sun-worn drawl of Tomorrow's Sun reaches its zenith, just for a knees-up version of the Pleasure Seekers' What A Way To Die to see us out, Some Jerks have left the joint with as much zest and verve as they began.