Nazi Dogs
Chase the Man
TKO
If someone were to hand you Chase the Man with no information beforehand, you might think this was a reissue of a criminally overlooked early ’70s Cleveland-area punk band, albeit one with the foresight to badly superimpose George W. and Adolf’s heads over a still from Easy Rider.
Actually, these four contemporary Germans have decided not to bother reinventing the wheel and instead reached back to the American midwest-area punk sounds of the early ’70s for inspiration. Touchstones are the Pagans (whose “What’s This Shit Called Love” is covered) or perhaps a less practiced and polished Dead Boys. You could safely slip Chase the Man into the middle of a collection of obscure punk rarities and not too many people could tell the difference. In keeping with the midwestern theme, Nazi Dogs close the CD with a cover of Devo’s “Mongoloid,” turning the song into a creepy march with thick German accented vocals and chugging guitars. Monster riffs abound, with some of the songs, especially the opener “Borderline” recalling early Angry Samoans, but with more muffled vocals.
The eleven songs all move along at a brisk mid-tempo, recalling the days before punk evolved into hardcore and bands weren’t ashamed to admit to being influenced by rock. The songs are short and tuneful, with a refreshing lack of pretension. As mentioned before, the vocals could be less muffled, but after a few songs it adds to the charm, reminiscent of the recording techniques of the era. You know how when you mention a band and someone says you should have heard them before they got big and they play you the fuzzed-out under-produced stuff from their early days and you think it sounds a little too raw but later you can’t get the sound out of your head? That’s the Nazi Dogs.
TKO Records: http://www.tkorecords.com/
