Motorsoule

J Christenson

MOTORSOULE is not your typical Orange County, tattooed, wife beater, and chain wallet wearing, “I used to get loaded with Mike Ness” bragging bunch of idiot musicians. MOTORSOULE is everything a great Rock band should be. High volume, bright lights, antagonistic, in your face Rock and Roll! MOTORSOULE is goddamned loud and goddamned dangerous! Formed out of the remains of The Wheels, Johnny Monster, Tripwire, Dirt Clod Fight, and other O.C. bands either too famous or too shameful to mention, MOTORSOULE have been around for a few years. This final and undoubtedly the best incarnation of MOTORSOULE have been at it less than a year. After listening to their self-produced, self-titled, and self-released CD, and seeing them live, you get the feeling they’ve been around forever, and you’re even more amazed knowing that this isn’t the case. I’d say MOTORSOULE has got to be the most conceptually perfect band since KISS. And that just makes MOTORSOULE that much more intriguing. The closest I can come to labeling MOTORSOULE would be to describe their sound, and their image as “Punk Rock and Roll” (But don’t you dare call them Punk!). Their sound and their style is reminiscent of legendary bands like X, The Flesheaters, The Dead Boys, and early Pretenders. Their highly stylized guitar riffs have that unmistakable “Groovy Ghoulies” vibe to them courtesy of Guitar God Dan and his masterful six string stylings. In addition to that there’s the obvious cartoon influence carried over by ex-Johnny Monster bass player, now MOTORSOULE guitarist Shane. Like Stiv Bators before him, vocalist Ricki Menace is a scary little sucker, and I get the feeling that one of these days he’s gonna hurt himself, or someone else with his onstage antics (Watch where you swing that microphone stand!). Although unintentionally and not blatantly, Ricki showcases a voice that sounds a lot like Jello Biafra. It’s a good thing though, and it’s one of the many parts of the synthesis that works to create the sound that is pure MOTORSOULE. What MOTORSOULE have done with their self-titled CD is thrown in all their best influences, their own deft musical and songwriting skills, and the ability to get the desired effect onto CD. They’ve bravely entered into the unknown and come out with something unique and of EPIC proportions here. The overall sound is amazing and professional, yet not an “overproduced” production. MOTORSOULE has mixed 12 raucous songs into an awesome sonic landscape that entices you to go for a second and third spin, and eventually makes you want to hit the replay button and listen until you get tired of it. Which of course, you never do. MOTORSOULE live is like a Rock and Roll lounge act set to killer music. Their shows are quickly becoming the stuff that legends are made of. MOTORSOULE incorporates pieces of glitter, glitz, and gore galore into their Rock and Roll spectacle. These four guys and one fine gal have got such a cool style with their BIG starched white collars and smoking jackets, offset by Ricki decked out in the feather boa and motorcycle riding gear, looking like a deranged version of Rob Halford ready to commit aggravated acts of whatever it takes to mow-down anyone who gets in his way. They’ve got the cool light show happening, and they’ve got a big, shiny, silvery, sparkly “M” surrounded by red Christmas tree lights hovering over Murdock and the drum set. MOTORSOULE’s festival of lights live show goes over equally as well in bigger clubs as it does in smaller clubs. MOTORSOULE is: Ricki---Vocals Dan---Guitars Jen---Bass Shane---Guitars Murdock---Drums