the Hefners - "Lay Off -
This Is the Old Man’s PRIVATE POISON"
Middle
Class Pig Records
The Hefners’ brand of frantic organ-fueled garage punk is not exactly
for everyone. The vocals aren’t exactly easy on the ears, nor are the
lyrics that decipherable. However, the catchiness of most of the tunes,
as well as Lay Off...'s breakneck pace (17 songs in under half-an-hour)
had me tapping my foot the whole time.
This isn’t moshing punk, though. No, no, no - this is punk for the
shaggy-haired mod types out there. This CD would not have been out of
place at a 60’s swinger party - fitting perfectly with the band’s name,
as well as the disc’s artwork.
The Hefners could have easily gotten boring or annoying really fast,
were it not for the catchy lyrics on songs like "Short-Haired Girls"
(whose chorus of ‘Short-haired girls drive me wi-ild" was stuck in my
head for days), and little things thrown in that break up the songs,
such as the guitar breakdown and screams on "Abnormal Hormonal."
Definitely one of the wilder local acts to put out out a CD recently,
the Hefners’ album is well worth your dollars. You won’t be
disappointed, and I guarantee you’ll be surprised.