Dirtbag Republic
Dirtbag Republic
DBR
2015
Canada has a tradition of good bands on many genres of music, but I somehow fail to think up too many Canadian Sleaze-bees. Helix are pretty much straight ahead rock n roll, Loverboy a bit softer, but I really draw a blank when it comes to a naming a Canadian band that was “Sleazeoid” and really “made it” big… even the Canadian Pretty Boy Floyd was heavier and better than their Californian counterparts .
The story begins when two Vancouver rock veterans Sandy Hazard (vocals/drums) & Mick Wood (guitars) decided to form a no-nonsense hard rock band with a sexier sound, several years after their first encounter in the mid-80s and right after Hazard’s then band Pretty Boy Floyd/Tommy Floyd (Canada) had just disbanded. They did form a band together with the quite bad name, Grandma Moses and performed around their locality even seeing their debut album getting released posthumously by Perris Records. After Grandma Moses imploded, Wood laid low in the scene surfacing now and then and Hazard went on to play for 20 years with Bubblepunkers McRackins releasing 17 albums from labels around the globe. Wow that takes some time and I imagine very little effort on the songwriting front, poping out almost one album per year… obviously, since the band is no mainstay, I suppose their appeal must have been quite selective to put it in Tap terms...
And finally all this cumulated in the rise of Dirtbag Republic. Sandy Hazard contacted Mick Wood and the duo augmented by ex-Pretty Boy Floyd/Tommy Floyd bassist Steve Bratz and a few more guests went on to record their debut. Mixing influences such as Hanoi Rocks (to a large extent), Aerosmith, The Faces, Cheap Trick, Rolling Stones & NY Dolls and the Ramones, the style of Dirtbag Republic is not too hard to define… while Hazard lacks the charisma of a Michael Monroe, but what he lacks in charm he makes up in conviction, singing his heart out on this punked out sleaze-a-thon. From such snotty anthems as “I Got Nothing” to salacious surfing jams like “No Reason for Loving You” this is primarily a fun album… there’s a cover of the Professionals “Little Boys in Blue” as well as and I suppose another “cover” the rather out of place “Minister & The Angel”, which seems to be religiously sort of inspired. Not at all bad for these Canadian chaps...
The story begins when two Vancouver rock veterans Sandy Hazard (vocals/drums) & Mick Wood (guitars) decided to form a no-nonsense hard rock band with a sexier sound, several years after their first encounter in the mid-80s and right after Hazard’s then band Pretty Boy Floyd/Tommy Floyd (Canada) had just disbanded. They did form a band together with the quite bad name, Grandma Moses and performed around their locality even seeing their debut album getting released posthumously by Perris Records. After Grandma Moses imploded, Wood laid low in the scene surfacing now and then and Hazard went on to play for 20 years with Bubblepunkers McRackins releasing 17 albums from labels around the globe. Wow that takes some time and I imagine very little effort on the songwriting front, poping out almost one album per year… obviously, since the band is no mainstay, I suppose their appeal must have been quite selective to put it in Tap terms...
And finally all this cumulated in the rise of Dirtbag Republic. Sandy Hazard contacted Mick Wood and the duo augmented by ex-Pretty Boy Floyd/Tommy Floyd bassist Steve Bratz and a few more guests went on to record their debut. Mixing influences such as Hanoi Rocks (to a large extent), Aerosmith, The Faces, Cheap Trick, Rolling Stones & NY Dolls and the Ramones, the style of Dirtbag Republic is not too hard to define… while Hazard lacks the charisma of a Michael Monroe, but what he lacks in charm he makes up in conviction, singing his heart out on this punked out sleaze-a-thon. From such snotty anthems as “I Got Nothing” to salacious surfing jams like “No Reason for Loving You” this is primarily a fun album… there’s a cover of the Professionals “Little Boys in Blue” as well as and I suppose another “cover” the rather out of place “Minister & The Angel”, which seems to be religiously sort of inspired. Not at all bad for these Canadian chaps...