DEALER - Billionaire Boys Club
Dealer is a band that could only exist now, but not without the previous 40 years in rock happening the way they did. Confused? Let's figure this out. The Oakland trio spit crunchy, caustic riffs at a runner's clip throughout debut Billionaire Boys Club, recalling the Melvins in their Slap-A-Ham days and Amphetamine Reptile at its prime. Between the album cover, biting lyrics and a reverential take on Blue Oyster Cult's "She's As Beautiful As A Foot" it's pretty clear Dealer has a healthy sense of weird humor too, which is a main component of every noise rock band worth its salt in the last three decades. Musicianship is key here; not quite in the technical sense, though all three band members are obviously talented, but in the way they make falling down the stairs sound good. The guitar solos here aren't to show off, they're a pack of rabid possums nipping at your heels.
"AM Gold" sets the tone immediately, knocking Torche from their thunder pop throne. The underlying groove never overtakes the acerbic nature of the song, competing for space with strained vocals and super-fuzzed bass in producer Greg Wilkinson's excellent mix. "Odious Charm" continues with a killer Unsane-inspired main riff and eases back on the urgency in favor of some room for a bouncing rhythm.
"Slur" and "Total Horse" bring the heat back, and are easily on par with anything their peers in Lecherous Gaze or Drug Church have been doing. The aforementioned BOC cover, from their legendary debut, fits perfectly into the band's sound and vision, and listeners unaware of its pedigree might not even know it isn't a Dealer song. Drummer Darien McKinney shows off some impressive skills on "Solar Dominion" with fills and patterns reminiscent of Matt Cameron. Speaking of which, the early Seattle sound bleeds through a lot of Dealer's jams as well, with "In The Flesh" and "Cake Walk" again recalling early Melvins and the noisier end of TAD's discography. Billionaire Boys Club is much more than its influences, though. In a sea of supposedly original bands that are nothing more than glorified tribute acts, Dealer have already separated themselves from the pack. And playing these songs live? It's easy to imagine bloody noses and smiling faces.
Billionaire Boys Club will see a worldwide release 2/17 on LP/CD/digital/cassette by Wicked World Records. Preorders are available on Dealer's Bandcamp HERE.
