Band: Nasty Idols
Album title: Boys Town
Label: Metal Heaven
Distributor: Rough Trade
Release date: 27/03/2009
Release: CD

Watch out world, because Sweden’s re-united Sleeze Rock/ Metal act Nasty Idols are finally back! Actually, it’s not the first time they tried to get together again, but this time they even got around to making a new studio album.
The Nasty Idols story started back in 1987, when singer Andy Pierce and bassist Dick Swafort took examples from the likes of Motley Crüe, Kiss, The Sweet, New York Dolls and Alice Cooper to form their own band with the aid of Andy’s school mate Chris Vance (guitar) and this crazy drummer named George Swanson Dick knew. NI played their first gig at a festival in their hometown, playing original music for the most part, but ending the set with Kiss’s “Detroit Rock City”. Shortly after, they paid their way into a studio, recorded two songs, and put them out on 1,000 7-inch singles. In 1988 (by then they’d picked up a new guitarist) they then signed to the small HMS Records, who released the band’s debut album Gigolos On Parade at the end of 1989.
In 1990 the band got themselves yet another new guitarist in Peter Espinoza…whom would turn out instrumental in injecting the necessary portion of adrenaline in the band’s music for them to break through. The first two songs written in the new line-up were found to be so exhilerating, HMS decided to put ‘em out as a single, long before the band had even any other material to fill a new album with! And indeed the single gave the guys a lot of positive reactions from the media, with attention from other European countries growing as well. In the first to days following the release of the band’s sophomore album Cruel Intention (February 1991), it sold over 10,000 copies in Sweden alone, thanks to a video for one of the songs being shows on MTV’s Headbangers Ball show, SuperChannel, and other tv-channels around Europe. Following plenty of touring in support of the album, the album was eventually also released in Germany and Japan by the end of that year…and established the band as the hottest Sleeze Rock act from Scandinavia!
1992 saw a change on the drum stool with the installment of a guy named Stanley, and the new album Vicious got issued in October of 1993. Although the two videos culled from that album did fairly well, and the album overall fell in a heavier category of the Sleeze genre, European Hard Rock bands were starting to feel the effects of the American Grunge scene. Espinoza had become disillusioned and left, and with new guitarist Mikkie Nielsen NI began recording what had to become their fourth album, when their label went belly-up. Unable to find a label to release their album (such was the tendency in those days that anything removed from Grunge was dismissed, unless you were an established band with sales figures exceeding the 100,000s) which they had first titled The Fourth Reich before settling on Heroes For Sale (both titles relating to the hard times the band was goin’ through at the time), the guys started to loose their inspiration, and split towards the end of 1995! In 1995 Pierce had already formed a new band named Machinegun Kelly, with whom one album would be released. Espinoza released a ssolo album and later formed Majestic, which had some success in Japan.
In 1998 Nasty Idols played a re-union gig, and talks about a return to the scene were made, but not followed through. In stead Pierce recorded & released his solo album No Place For Late Regrets. In 2000 they finally got their strength together again, and recorded the promo single “Something New”, but eventually it would turn out that this was not yet the true “re-union”. In 2002 American label Perris contacted the band for the re-issue of all of their old albums, plus a “best of” titled The Refused And Lost Tapes …and the intended 1995 album Heroes For Sale! In 2005 Pierce recorded the debut album All The Sick Things We Do with his new band United Enemies, and by the end of that year Nasty Idols’ contract with Perris ran out. Interested in releasing another “best of” compilation, they contacted Swedish imprint Swedmetal Records, whoc were not only found willing to release The Swedish Sleaze Collection in 2006, but also to give the band’s old albums a Swedish re-issue as well!
Then the people at Sweden Rock approached Pierce with the intent of having a one-off NI gig at that year’s festival, and it’s with a line-up including Pierce, Espinoza, Swafort and Ricci Dahl (of United Enemies) that the band participated. The success of that gig got the flame burning again, so the guys organized a Swedish tour, which started in September 2006. From Sweden came the whole of Scandinavia, and eventually the band would even tour Italy and the UK. During 2008 the band members felt it was time for a new studio album under the Nasty Idols monicker…which is what we now have on our plate!
The new album very much finds the Swedes in their heavier style of play…except for the nice ballad “Nite Like This” (which not only has an acoustic guitar played throughout the song, but also sees the use of some soft organ in the calmest parts), and the overall calmer album closing “It Ain’t Easy”. The pace is overall rather up there, except for a couple of exceptions (besides the ones already named, you’ve also got the mid-paced “48 Hours” and “7 Year Itch”)…which brings the necessary variation to the album! To help you get acquainted  with their new album, the band posted no less than five (5!) songs at myspace.com/thenastyidols. As of yet, no dates are set for the live promotion of this album, so interested parties are advised to check the band’s MySpace page and/or own website nastyidols.com!

83/100

Tony.