Two-Chord Minimum
Wounded Lion take pride in making a lot out of a little
“Some people are friennnnnnndly beeeeeecause theyNre craaaaaaaazy,” says Brad Eberhard. “Some people are friiiiendly just because theyNre niiiiiiice.” Behind him, his band Wounded Lion chunters down-up-down between one chord most famously deployed at the CrampsN set at the Napa State Mental Hospital and one chord most infamously deployed at CrimeNs set at San Quentin State Prison. “Thought everyone was craaaaaaaazy til I met my baaaaaaaaby,” says Eberhard. “Have you met my baaaaaaaaaby? Well, she is realllllly nice!”
And thatNs the new single. All of it. ItNs called “Friendly?” It will be out momentarily on LANs In the Red and it sits heavy and content in its irreducible punk minimalism. The Troggs hit with “I want you!” and the Monks hit with “I hate you!” and now Wounded Lion hit, too, after falling several stories for a hard landing in the basement of punk rock. There, Eberhard shakes off the debris and delivers durable truths in a rattled baritone with a band who started as a sort of art project and referred to their instruments as “tools.” ItNs primitive in the most honorable way—like an open flame or a sharpened rock—and itNs almost as basic as a band can get before dropping through the bottom of actually being a band.
For a certain kind of person (crazy or just nice?), itNs instantly charming. Devo did this, the Clean did this, and the Mekons did it almost better than anyone. You can sing along on the second chorus as soon as you understand the words in the first. You can play it yourself whenever you care to learn. You can laugh the first time you hear it and laugh a different way the very next.
“I wanna play defense,” says Eberhard. “If I had to make an album in a month, INd watch tons of Seinfeld and Friends with a guitar in my hand. INm not in Fugazi mode decrying capitalism. ItNs just an absurd playful way—a little bit of pushing against it. Whatever has attracted people to awesome rock N roll in the first place, like teens in the N50s—so many things are the same, donNt you think? There are still the things that create a need for rock N roll. Even with access to the Internet, you still want something authentic and exciting and sexy.”
What was that? “SEXY!” says Eberhard, and laughs. He was once an art teacher in LA, but he grew up in Anaheim learning punk rock from Rodney On the ROQ—the best lesson being that all decades of rock N roll are friends, he says. And so, strange reverbed Elvis songs (“Blue Moon”) and Lux and IvyNs own irreducible work (“Caveman”) and Alex ChiltonNs transmission-dropping decision to force-forget everything he knew and play rock N roll like a 13-year-old would (just about all of Like Flies on Sherbert) all bounce and splatter into Wounded Lion. Now, after last yearNs winning “Carol Cloud” 45 on S-S and with the LampsN formidable Monty Buckles currently on drums, Wounded Lion—also Shant, Chris, Jun and Raffi—lurch forth with new vigor. (“Cherry Bomb,” not “Roadrunner,” Eberhard explains.) After “Friendly?” comes out, theyNll release their first album. As yet untitled, but with songs about earth and space, Eberhard says—simple things.
“My worst nightmare in the world is the Decemberists!” he says. “I hate the music, I hate his voice, and most of all, I hate the lyrics! This notion of literary rock! If youNre intelligent and you really wanna communicate, youNll speak clearly. Some people think if youNre intelligent, youNll obfuscate. Like that proves youNre smart? ItNs similar to the urgency of rock music—there isnNt time! You must not care that much if youNre gonna dick around.”
Wounded Lion with the Frustrations, Gestapo Khazi and the Tijuana Panthers at the Prospector, 2400 E. Seventh St., Long Beach, (562) 438-3839; www.myspace.com/theprospectorlongbeach. Tues., 9 p.m. $5. 21+.
