Band: Green Moon Sparks
Album title: Rebel With A Curse
Label: Drunkabilly
Distributor: Music Shock - Suburban
Release date: March 2009
Release: CD

You know something? Having spent (too much) time trying to find more info on this Italian band’s background and coming up with barely anything at all, I eventually decided to just simply give you the text put on the back of our promo copy of the band’s debut album by the label, verbatum…so here it goes!

“Hailing from the ancient city of Padova in Northern Italy, the Green Moon Sparks take a welcome stance: first and foremost, Psychobilly should be fun! The self-mocking slogan “Stronzo Band” amplifies this cheerful approach. Yet make no bones about their knack for spawning a wide range of Rockin’ goods. From Hillbilly origins to early  Punk and beyond, this foursome taps into decades of subterranean splendor. Meanwhile their psycho brew is flavour-enhanced by Toy Dolls tomfoolery plus Surf Rats and Scum Rats strut!

The opening salvo of debut album Rebel With A Curse is aptly baptized “Rattlebrain”. The tone is set by the doouble bass rattle and howls from grimy vocal pipes, fit to deliver the vinegar over two-way guitar action. Sparks fly in twelve tuneful tracks, such as “A Rockabilly Stole My Bike”. Even more striking are the reverberant twists on Spaghetti Westerns in a one-horse town where mariachi mooncalfs blow off steam for amphetamine. In the dead silence after the grand finale, one realizes why the rebel is cursed: this mutant Rock ‘n’ Roll is far too addictive.”

So far the promo talk, now for my own modest contributions: the band consists of drumming lead singer Popo (whose raspy hoarse voice is simply to-die-for), rhythm guitarist Midi, lead guitarist Stuart, and stand-up bassist Tega (and at least one of the three latter occasionally gives Popo some vocal backing). Musically, the band claims to take influences from Punk Rock, Grunge Pop, and Hillbilly Bop, more specifically citing artists such as Chris Isaak, Radiacs, Cypress Hill, Toy Dolls, The Ronettes, Roy Acuff, T.Rex, Johnny Winter, Demented Scumcats, Ramones, New York Dolls, Lee Perry, Sex Pistols, Kiss, Johnny Cash, Stray Cats Billy Idol, and Jimi Hendrix…which is, as you will agree, a fairly diverse bunch to draw influences from! Now, to specify more clearly the label’s citing of Spaghetti Western in GMS’s music, songs to check out are “Mexican Disease” and “Troubled Love Song” (the latter with the addition of a mariachi trumpet). You might think the Southern titled “Senorita” would go the same way, but actually this is a hymn to a very sexy lady (Anna?…whom also gives away a moaned serenade I the second part and ending of the song. The album is ended with the album’s title track, followed by just over 3 minutes of silence, after which Anna starts another session of moaning, a guy calling out her name, another starting a giggle…and getting slapped in the face! End of song, of album, and exit GMS…until you push that “Play” button on the cd-player again, for the umptiest time! Because as mentioned in the promo talk, this IS highly addictive music, and you dó tend to wanna hear the album all over again, again and again!

Yoù can get acquainted (something I urgently advise you to do) with this really gréat Psychobilly/ Rock/ Punk act, by surfing to myspace.com/greenmoonsparks, where the band posted a foursome of tracks (including the above mentioned “A Rockabilly Stole My Bike” and “Mexican Disease”), but consider yourself warned: you’ll want to hear more (check whether the album’s available through amazon.com, they usually make 30-second samples of all songs available)…you may even wanna spend the amount of money necessary for the purchase of the album! Yeah…it’s thàt good, and définitely the hottest Drunkabilly release of March 2009!

90/100

Tony.