THEE CUSS WORDS
“This is our EP launch – apparently,” was the rather subdued introduction guitarist/vocalist Charlie Wyatt used to open his band’s set one Saturday in June. It was a picture of understatement.
What followed, nanoseconds later was anything but. Thee Cuss Words unleashed the full force of their ear bleed inducing songs on the expectant ears of the Command House audience. And everyone loved it.
Shortly after their set, and once drummer Tom Close had put all of his clothes on (including his boxers), the impromptu nudist thrust a CD into the hands of yours truly: the much celebrated EP. It goes by the entirely charming title of “Even the Devil Went Home and Barfed that Night“. Pure poetry.
‘Even the Devil…” is a five track assault on your ear drums. Even with the luxury of a volume control, Thee Cuss Words are loud, no matter how low you set the dial.
It’s a glorious splurge of post-punk, lo-fi noise, echoing the sort of American sounds that beguiled Graham Coxon when he recorded “The Golden D”. It’s somewhere in the region of Pavement or Sonic Youth. Only way more extreme.
Thee Cuss Words’ songs are misanthropic tales of anger and disappointment: of vain, vacuous women (“Chyea, rrright””), the lazy and pessimistic (“Marijuana Minutes”) and the emotionally crippled (“The Girl With The Pregnant Thighs”. Oh, and there’s a song about the dangers of smoking (“Deathchest”). It’s a public service they’re performing really. By rights Andrew Lansley should pay them some kind of out-sourcing fee.
We know about the lyrical content, not so much from hearing the lyrics being recited clearly and audibly (the fantastically heavy distortion and relatively low volume of vocals compared to that of the searing guitar see to that): more from the fact the band have helpfully included the words in individual scraps of paper with the EP. They’re tantalisingly trapped between the CD tray and the back of the jewel case.
This is some of the loudest, some of the most intense music you could ever cram into your brain. This is no hyperbole; it’s no exaggeration akin to “this band are the next big thing”. It’s just a statement of fact.
Rather than issuing lyrics, Thee Cuss Words may need to consider providing industrial strength ear defenders with copies of the EPs.
It’s loud and it’s fast. But it’s also great. Far from being loud music for the sake of it, this is loud music with an enormous brain to it.
The lyrics, despite being largely inaudible, are perceptive and intelligent “Her shoes are only that shiny because she kicked the teeth out of God’s mouth” are not the sort of lyrics a stereotypist of such music would imagine coming from the lyricist’s pen.
While fundamentally a live band, Thee Cuss Words succeed in bringing life and excitement to the recorded format. Whether Tom Close was able to keep his clothes and indeed pants on during the making of this EP is, sadly, unknown. What we do know is, with this EP you can easily rock back and enjoy.