Call it Opposition
Rock: Black Bananas bring Rad Times, an electro-metal-punk-pop-dub-psych-softrock gorging dense
and thick and chaotic and claustrophobic with sonic screech. The band,
which blew up from the ashes of singer Jennifer HerremaÕs RTX, which had
segued out of HerremaÕs blues-rock-metal-skewering Royal Trux, has a
vanload of experience recycling pop-culture garbage. Now itÕs time to up
their game.
ÒIt seemed like we
had taken it one step further than RTX and might as well re-christen the
project,Ó says Herrema. ÒItÕs kinda like youÕre a senior and not a freshman
anymore. Renaming the band makes it easier for people to remember it,
knowhumsayin?Ó
Recorded in the
Huntington Beach, CA studio not too far from HerremaÕs fave surfing spot, Rad
Times is a concept, sort of, where the pop trash gets dumped
out, jumbled around in novel combinations and kickbooted back out into the
smog. With ÒHot StupidÓ you get a mysterious mŽlange of electro and
headbanger rock and twining Ô70s Heart/Boston guitars. Heavily riffing
ditties like ÒFoxy PlaygroundÓ and ÒMy HouseÓ flair their long hair, but
then ÒTV TroubleÓ and ÒAcid SongÓ bubble over with Ô70s pop rock guitars,
with the Eagles and ÒBrother LouieÓ jostling for attention, and ÒDo ItÓ
sports shades of the Gap BandÕs ÒYou Dropped a Bomb on Me.Ó
A significant
portion of the approximately three tons of pop-rubbish DNA compressed into Rad
Times finds its source in
the funky stuff Herrema absorbed growing up in Southeast DC, USA.
ÒThere
were no white people anywhere near where I lived,Ó she says. ÒI was
surrounded by the Junk Yard Band, Experience Unlimited, Rare Essence. That
is what you would hear all day everyday. Curtis Blow, and Chuck Brown ÐÐ
yeah, Chuck Brown was fuckinÕ dope too. It was just all the freaky funk
masters.Ó
At any rate, with
all these bizarre blends happening mostly at the same time all over Rad
Times,
rarely do you get a clear sense of where the band is coming from, and thatÕs just a very, very good thing.
And donÕt sweat what to call it, Ôcause HerremaÕs just done it for you:
Black Bananas, she says, Òis making future sounds for the future party.Ó
ÒItÕs like melding a lot of
influences and not having them just sound retro, making it into something
that becomes a whole in and of itself and defines something new.Ó She
laughs, ÒThen again, it all goes back to watching TV. ItÕs always on, like
white noise, a weird kind of static.Ó
