You gotta hand it to the folks at Gearhead -- they know punk rock and hard rock just as well as they do vintage hot rods, and ever since the 'zine spawned a record label, they've been releasing a steady stream of high-quality, thoroughly unapologetic rock. (Hey, these guys were hip to
the Hives long before the folks at Spin told you they were the Next Big Thing.)
Thingmaker is a budget-priced label sampler offering 21 slabs of Gearhead-approved noise, and as soon as "What's What" by
the Riverboat Gamblers kicks in, you know you're in for some top fuel action with this disc. The set list includes sides from
the New Bomb Turks,
the Nomads,
the Dragons,
the Hellacopters,
the Wildhearts,
the Lazy Cowgirls, and other reliable purveyors of the Big Beat, and most of the lesser-knowns bash it out just as hard and with the same degree of sweat, fire, and fun. You get great punk, real rock & roll, some actual rarities (including a wild live
New Bomb Turks cut), a nostalgia-inducing "Creepy Crawlers" commercial, and the whole thing lists for about five bucks. Economists call that "value for money," and I call it a CD you oughta be listening to right now. ~ Mark Deming