Band : Johnny Rocket
Album title : Pain Is Her Game
Label : Wolverine
Distributor : Sonic Rendezvous
Release date : 26/09/2008
Release : CD

German Punk ‘n’ Roll band Johnny Rocket made their debut with the 2007 self-released 4-track Who’s Your Daddy EP, and thus got the attention of Wolverine Records, who had ‘em contribute the title track of their EP to their Rock ’n’ Roll Is In My Soul compilation album (review posted 20/04/2008).

Membership to the line-up is somewhat of a mystery, as both the singer, guitarist, double bass player, and drummer have all taken the surname of Johnny Rocket! Another mystery is the band’s history or individual members’ previous experiences as musicians, as no info what-so-ever can be found! According to the bio at the label’s website (hey, and check out the “mp3 Shop” section there to listen to some short samples of each song on the album!), Johnny Rocket talks about all those things that really matter in life: women, cars, booze, and chainsaw psychopaths! Soundwize, it also puts the band somewhere in between Demented Are Go, The Bones, Turbo AC’s and The Peacocks. Regretfully, although the addition of slap bass to the 11 Poppy Punk Rock songs (which dó also have fleeting Rock ‘n’ Roll influences) don’t really convince. Nor does frontman Johnny’s raw, hoarse voice, even if it occasionally backed with the usual harmony voices! Maybe you should listen to a couple of full songs (2 tracks off the EP, 3 off the album) at myspace.com/johnnyrocket, and keep in mind that, although a limited amount of these songs may be quite nice to listen to separatedly, each individual one tends to drown in the whole of an album’s length (even if, like in this case, that  is only 35 minutes!)

If you prefer making your acquantances with bands in a live atmosphere, I can tell you that the guys will be over in Belgium for a couple of gigs in February 2009 (current dates are Feb. 26 and 27 for gigs in Gent and Leopoldsburg respectively, with a possible 3rd date – and gigs in Holland – still to be added). For updates (and a series of other people’s appreciation of the album – hope you can read German!) and more details, check out the band’s MySpace page regularly.

76/100

Tony.