 THE
NEEDLES >> MEET THE NEEDLES. MOONROCKNEEDLES TUNES 2002
The Needles
are little pricks. Really, they’re practically unnoticeable in
the heaping haystack of booming lame acts like The Hives and The Vines
who seem to be stealing credit lately for invigorating rock’s spirit.
Puh-leeze... May Keith Richards take it upon himself to personally draw-and-quarter
these fucks. On the other hand, Wilmington, NC’s, The Needles—being
the deceivingly sharp pricks they are—pierce your skin before you
know it and draw blood upon impact, sending a jolt of rock right to
your dome. Although they’re minor distractions compared to the
attention the aforementioned buffoons are suddenly receiving, their
sting is infinitely more effective—unable to be ignored, and similarly
unable to be forgotten—especially if you get your prick at a live
show.
This is dirty, smokey, Beam-soaked, batter-fried, late-night rock-n-roll
at its best—meant to be played loud as it spits a thick, brown
sonic loogie right in your face. If you don’t believe that, get
a load of the names of some of the festivals these guys have become
favorite regulars at: Myrtle Beach, SC’s, Low Down Ho’ Down,
Chapel Hill, NC’s, Sleazefest, Winston-Salem, NC’s, Heavy
Rebel Weekender, and Baltimore, MD’s, Mob Town Grease Ball. Ugh!
East Coast crossboarders to the bone, The Needles have been featured
in everything from surf flicks like The Dirty South to skate videos
like 411VM. Their debut, full-length album, Meet The Needles,
does show shades of punk (the real kind, pre-‘83), thrash, and
rockabilly, but the band’s loyalty to an undissected rock-and-roll
calling is obvious.
Grubby, masculine tunes like “Trashy Women” and “Big
Brown Bonnie” kick the androgynous whinings of Jimmy Eat World
and Get-Up Kids in the nuts. Don’t worry, though, they got the
ladies covered, too; after all, whoever said romance has to be slow?
Like rockers do, this five-man set speeds up the courtship process with
brutally honest tracks like “Love Letter” and “Baby Talk”
and round everything out with injections of the hypodermically Misfits-esque
“Red? Green” and the even deeper-stabbing punk throwback “Pin
Cushion.”
Your life’s too structured. If you feel like you need a little
rock in your routine—and believe us, you do—go see a Needles
show, then buy this CD. Go ahead, get pricked. -By
Matt Pruett
|