Beeramid
Ricochet Sound
It's great to finally hear some good news from the Middle East! Saddle up your camel, through on the fez, and groove out to Fuad & The Feztones! And who said people from the Middle East can only rock when they're throwing one? Just kidding. Fuad & The Feztones are actually a garage/frat rock/soul band composed of Bobby Beaton and John Davis of Montreal garage rock icons The Gruesomes and fellow Montrealites Dave Hamelin and Liam O’Neil of The Stills. For a couple of dudes from The Great White North, they've definitely got a wild Nile groove on to come out with Beeramid. If one over tried making a beer tower alone, you'd realize the Beeramid is quite a monument.
This band serves up some pretty heavy handed doses of harsh reality on emotionally laden tracks like "Djibouti Call," a sweet little number with enough sweet sax to get King Tut himself groovin.' "Beeramid" is an invitation to make something out of one of everyone's favorite hobbies, drinkin' beer. It's not working for me. I'd rather drink beer. I don't have the patience to build a Beeramid like the pharoah asks. Then again, it would make it easier to walk around my place if the empties were more organized. One must admit that a pharoah who wants a monumbent of beer cans and bottles has to be a cool guy. Hell, with the invitation to sing along, a sweet beat, some funky bass, keys, and finally guitar all played for the pharoah, it's awfully persuasive to not only have one build a monument for the party pharoah, but it's so cool that it would make a great religion, only this one would actually make sense! "The Boogaloser" is about the rather out of shape, aging hipsters that many of us have become. For those of you who aren't, you'll get there. My description can't do the song justice, so some lyrical reprint is necessary:
Every night on the dance floor It ain't right
- he must be forty-four Or more He tries so
hard to be hip But he's a drip...
He did the Twist - but broke his leg He did
the Bird - and laid an egg How 'bout the
Swim? - well he nearly drowned He did
the Horse - they had to put him down How
'bout the Dog? - he up and died He did the
Chicken - the man got fried
There's plenty more where that came from. However, the music is downright cool. Frat rock is rooted in garage and soul, but kind of has a "coolness" to it exemplified by some '60s hipster pad where the owner is young enough to be cool, but would rather swing than rock. However, there's plenty of rockin' goin' on Beeramid on instrumental tracks like "Mo' Rockin," which has a swinging beat and features some nice blues guitar, but not too long or sad. Like most of the music, it's just enough to be really good but still laid back. A lot of us can't identify with "Brother in Law," but the lyrics can apply to a lazy roommate or any 'friend' who's constantly crashing on your couch, especially when they drink your last beer! Either you'll think it's the hippest or the strangest, but nuggets like "Man I sure feel awful...I musta ate some bad falafel...There's nothing left to eat round here and my dog drank all of my beer" from "That's Bad, That's Worse" is a thought that none of us want to experience in person. Luckily, the lyrics are included on the CD and we're encouraged to sing along with Fuad since he needs all the help he can get.
There's a few cool R&B/soul covers on Beeramid such as a great cover of "The Cool Bird" from early '60s St. Louis R&B legends The Five Dutones as well as the related "Little Sally Walker" by Ike Turner. In keeping with the St. Louis R&B influence, there's an almost 'surfy' cover of "Camel Walk" by The Ikettes.
While tracks 1-13 was filmed at the secret Mummy's Tomb, Beeramid also has seven bonus tracks from The Valley Of The Kings Session.
Beeramid has plenty of great schtick. Simultaneously, it's got a lot of soul. The tunes are tight and well thought out. They groove, make you want to sing along and shake a tailfeather or two. Fuad & The Feztones is what great rock 'n' roll is all about. Besides, the three chord, primal, loud fuzz of garage rock and its shared idea of having fun and getting your feet moving came from St. Louis R&B, not just Motown. The fact that it was done by a bunch of Montrealites is not surprise considering that people in so many countries took American Roots Rock 'N' Roll and R&B and made it their own, but Egyptians? It's only proof that we've got a lot to learn. But Fuad & The Feztones love rock 'n' roll and it shows. So if you grab some pals, throw on some fezzes and dancin' shows, then tap the keg and a few martinis to measure, Beeramid is the perfect soundtrack. Yes, it's technically frat rock, which is a less guitar chord oriented type of r&b that merged into part of garage rock later. Then again, since frat boys usually don't know the first thing about good rock 'n' roll, and that's a good thing. Fuad & The Feztones got it right. As garage rock fans, we love rock 'n' roll, not "garage rock." We dig the soul and the R&B that spawned it, but most of the stuff we really love still has that R&B influence that shows. Naturally, if you love rock 'n' roll, you'll really dig Beeramid. On the other hand, if you love to drink beer and have a good time, you'll like it, too. Finally, if you're lost in the dark and looking for a sense of purpose, then listen to Fuad & The Feztones, pray to the pharoah, and start building a Beeramid. Then again, it's not the weekend yet. start planning.
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