VINYL

Dash Rip Rock

Dash Rip Rock

688 Records

WHEN MUSICIANS ARE HAVING FUN, their enjoyment is so infectious that it immediately spreads to the listener. There is no doubt that Dash Rip Rock, a new power trio from Louisiana, is having fun on their eponymous debut album, and it is hard not to want to get up and party just listening to it. Dash Rip Rock is not music to do your homework by.

Part of the fun comes from the band's off-the-wall character. Dash Rip Rock is named for Ellie Mae's suitor on "The Beverly Hillbillies." Its song-writers, guitarist Bill Davis and drummer Fred LeBlanc, compose love ballads, songs of graveyards and whiskey, and ominous-sounding instrumentals with equal facility. Their music mixes seemingly incompatible styles: Louisiana country music, rockabilly, and thrash-punk.

Actually, this combination isn't all that strange; hand-clappin' and foot-stompin' differ from slam dancing only by degree. Nor is the synthesis new or unique; such bands as the Long Ryders and Los Lobos play music that is a hybrid of these same styles--but not with the ferocity of Dash Rip Rock. It is as if Hank Williams, Sr. and Duane Eddy were the front men for Black Flag.

This monstrous synthesis comes to life on such creations as "DMZ." Davis sings in a Louisiana drawl about a dangerous neighborhood, while LeBlanc and bassist Ned "Hoaky" Hickel shout punk-style, "DMZ! DMZ!" Hickel's rockabilly bass thrums up and down the scale, while LeBlanc pounds violently and Davis' guitar screeches. The combination is hilarious but effective; it makes you want to get up and stomp, perhaps on a small animal.

Don't let songs like "DMZ" or "Bad Dream," a nightmare in which Blue Oyster Cult invades and terrorizes Mr. Rogers' neighborhood, scare you away from Dash Rip Rock. The album's more traditional songs are just as dance-inducing. There is something for nearly everyone: standard rockabilly, straight-ahead rock, jangly pop, and a ballad or two. Even country purists should enjoy the triumphant rendition of Williams' "I Saw the Light."

Still, most of the songs are colored by the country twang of Davis' guitar and voice and the punk insistence of the rhythm. Like William Faulkner, Dash Rip Rock seems ambivalent about its southern roots, but that ambivalence makes its art richer. Plus, Dash Rip Rock must be a killer live band, but until it comes to the Northeast to play--and thereby to incite riots--Dash Rip Rock will suffice as a substitute.