The Bulemics
… Still Too Young to Care (Scarey)
This odds-and-more-sods CD/DVD from the Bulemics resonates with all the slapdash irreverence of a hurriedly-assembled burn mix. If the decade-spanning Italian import doesn’t always present the venerable Austin punk quintet in the most positive light, that’s sort of the point. Sporting 36 tracks of foul-mouthed negation, the Bulemics bring the Dead Boys’ throbbing, sneering spirit to bear on Misfits-styled horrors “Austin Strangler” and Antiseen-caliber smut samples like “Hatefuck” and “Felacia.” Front and center is iron-throated vocalist Gerry Atric, whose bloodcurdling screams are the stuff of medical journals. The accompanying DVD features distorted, beer-sprayed gig footage shot at parties and preboom local venues like the Bates Motel. Rounded out with college-radio interviews and raggedly executed covers from Queen (“Fat Bottomed Girls”) and Alice Cooper (“Cold Ethyl”), … Still Too Young to Care engrosses its prey in the low-rent essence of A-town punk rock circa 1997. A little rose-tinted nostalgia is all it takes to make this taste even better the second time around.
This article appears in July 6 • 2007.
