Sheri Corleone is the Bang Bang Band Girl, a one-woman band based on Rotterdam in the Netherlands by way of Chile. Her sound is scuzzy-fuzzy garage punky trash with bursts of rockabilly, surf, and blues, brandishing a guitar-vocals-and rhythm core that’s tricked out with keyboards, oscillators, Theremin, and on her latest, the cover-song heavy 12 Super Duper Extraordinary Girl Trouble Rock’n’Roll Tracks, even a little saxophone. But along with gusts of noise and a general lo-fi atmosphere, there are currents of classique pop in the Bang Bang Band Girl’s sonic thrust. The new record is out now on LP, CD, and digital through Voodoo Rhythm Records.
Being a one-person band is surely not easy, though the ultimate point of the endeavor isn’t to impress by reigning triumphant over difficulty, like juggling and chewing gum while riding a unicycle, but rather the achievement of a sound that’s distinctiveness is directly related to simplicity at it’s most appealingly severe as it transcends any suggestion of gimmickry (those unicycles again). One-person bands can inhabit a shared sound, but it’s important to clarify that the best aren’t confused with anyone else.
For instance, I’ve not heard a one-person band that sounds particularly close to what Sheri Corleone is up to on her previous work, which is consists of the One Foot on Death Road split LP with Trash Calapso and his One Man Truck, the “Girl Friend Stomp” split 45 shared with Mitchy Dead, and the “Lies” 45 that she has all to her lonesome.
What makes her new one and first for Voodoo Rhythm stand out is the gravitation toward cover material, much if it firmly established in the annals of R&R history. Indeed, there are few songs more deeply ensconced in rock’s big book than The Troggs’ “Wild Thing,” which opens the record by wielding a likeably chintzy keyboard line, echo-laden vocals, and the requisite guitar crunch.
“Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down),” is another well-known selection, written by Sonny Bono and originally sung by his better half Cher but made retrospectively famous in Nancy Sinatra’s version as included in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol. 1. Given Corleone’s moniker, it’s an unsurprising choice, but the lo-fi, almost dream-poppy atmospherics help steer matters clear of the predictable.
“Heartbreak Hotel” (first recorded by Elvis, don’tcha know) maintains the swagger of the original but infuses it with ’50s B-movie sci-fi flying saucer sounds (courtesy of guest Veronik, the Theremin Guru of Peru) and layers of fuzz. It’s a winner, but the best of Corleone’s “golden oldies” picks is a treatment of The Drifters’ “Up on the Roof” that connects like a fairly contempo home recording that’s been marinated at length in the armpit sweat of Joe Meek. Needless to say, the aroma is potent.
The rest of the covers are less high-profile but are all sturdily connected to the garage murk paradigm. There’s Wanda Jackson’s “Funnel of Love,” which sounds like it was recorded inside a pinball machine and then broadcast via the cheapest transistor radio possible. There’s Motorhead’s “The Watcher,” overloaded with wheezing, burbling, wailing oscillators, and there’s the indefatigable hop-thud of the Heartbreakers’ “All by Myself.”
There’s a reverb slathered take of Dave Diddle Day’s “Blue Moon Baby” with guest sax honk from Oblivian Walter Daniels. There’s a beautifully grouchy and appropriately guffaws infested dig into Hasil Adkins’ “No More Hot Dogs.” And there’s a version of The Cramps’ “Call of the Winghat” that’s like Suicide and Jesus & Mary Chain rassling in a vat of melted down Sun rockabilly compilations. Everybody wins!
Corleone’s two originals, the cinematic twang of “Trulo-V” and the surf-tinged closer “The Hand” give 12 Super Duper Extraordinary Girl Trouble Rock’n’Roll Tracks a considerable up-kick in quality. Although there’s nothing mind-blowing about this record, the Bang Bang Band Girl does solidly and admirably extend a lovely tradition of trashy R&R.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
B+
