Obviously, any band with the gall (balls? whatever) to name themselves “The Sleazies” are all right with me. If I had kids, I betcha that’s what everybody would call ‘em, the Sleazies. Also, these cats are from Providence, a mob-riddled, run-down city that appears to be held together by duct-tape and steam, which I like. Can’t be a Sleazie without comin’ from somewhere sleazy, right? Anyway, after a bitchin’ single or two, the sleazy ones managed to stop snorting anything on the top shelf of their parents’ medicine cabinet long enuff to lay down 11 tracks worth of funny, snotty, kinda-evil punk-junk to really spazz out to, baby. Fans o’ the Dwarves, the Pagans, the Sex Pistols, and lotsa other really cool ‘The’ bands are gonna go nuts with this one, cuz it’s exactly what used to make punk rock so much fun - chemically damaged terminal adolescents playing catchy speed rock and saying ‘fuck’ a lot. Their pogo-frenzy hit from a few months back, “I Wanna Operate on Myself”, cracks this ‘un open like a ripe skull, and it’s all Meatmen-style gross-outs and Generation X headboppin’ teenpunk swagger from there. Highlights? “My Kid Drank Poison”, the most rockin’ ode to accidental infanticide since Alice Cooper’s “Dead Babies” and the savage porno punk of “I Wanna Fuck Your Mom”. Dude, my mom’s like 60, ya know. Guess that’s they they call ‘em the Sleazies .

Sleazegrinder
www.sleazegrinder.com

Trite Ditties And Meaningless Crap, the first full-length by RI punk band The Sleazies is 100% fun! Often I get CDs of shitty emo bands or good street punk bands, but it’s rare to get a “pop” punk album and have it rock my socks.

By “pop” punk I DO NOT mean what you get on MTV. I’m talking good ole fashion late 70’s style, glue sniffin Ramones mixed with a little 77 punk. It actually felt like a time warp to listed to this CD.

By the album’s title ‘Trite Ditties And Meaningless Crap’ you assume the band is just being hard on themselves and maybe fishing for a compliment... but in this case you’re so very wrong. It really is full of trite songs and meaningless bullshit and that’s what makes it work. It works well.

With songs about performing surgury on yourself, sniffing glue (classic), being a junky and of course fucking you mom, you just can’t lose with this CD.

Tony
www.punkandjunk.com

Well, folks, Pelado Records is back with another new release and those of us who are smart and savvy enough to be hip to this label know what we’re going to get: fast, snotty, fun ’77-ish punk with a whole lot of speed and a whole lot of melody. Just like many of Pelado’s other/former bands (the Ends, the Exploding Hearts, the Dimestore Haloes) the Sleazies are one of the absolute best that this genre has to offer.

Trite Ditties and Meaningless Crap opens with an extremely Ramones-y track called “I’m Gonna Operate on Myself.” The buzzsaw riff, the simple-cum-retarded lyrics and the 60s melody all betray some heavy influences from Queens’ favorite bruddas, but over the course of the LP the Sleazies do a much better job of keeping this influence under control and not pigeonholing themselves as some sort of Riverdales-esque Ramones revival band. “Truck Bomb,” for instance, is much faster than pretty much any song the Ramones put out and the barked-out vocals give it a really cool, almost early Dead Kennedys-vibe that really stands out and “Get It Up” is a very cool Heartbreakers-type rock and roll song with some rad Thin Lizzy-esque classic rock guitar leads..

At its root, though, Trite Ditties and Meaningless Crap is just a really great pop record that’s catchy enough to grab you on the first listen and sophisticated enough to stay in your stereo for quite some time after that. While not quite a perfect LP (“I Wanna Fuck Your Mom” is the chink in the armor with some seriously retarded lyrics), the Sleazies should definitely be on your radar if you care anything about 70s-inspired punk.

Daniel
Deep Fry Bonanza

Whatever happened to Do-It-Yourself punk stripped down to three chords, a simple backbeat and a melodic bass line? The Sleazies seek to answer that very question. The Rhode Island trio blends the musical genius that was The Ramones with the attitude of the Dead Boys to bring forth an album of quality garage rock for the new millennium. Trite Ditties and Meaningless Crap serves up songs with the catchy appeal of pop punk without all the overdubs and cheesy harmonies. Listening to this album, you’re left with a true feel the band’s honest-to-god live sound. When the guitarist pulls off a guitar solo, all that’s left in the background is the bass and drums. Like The Ramones, The Sleazies’ songs barely last more than two minutes, and the entire 11-song album clocks in at just over 25 minutes.

With song titles like “I Wanna be a Junky,” “Gonna Operate on Myself,” “My Kid Drank Poison” and “Glue Sandwich,” it’s obvious The Sleazies aren’t in the habit of tackling serious issues. The lyrics contained within aren’t very politically correct or insightful, which is probably the only drawback to The Sleazies’ style. Then again, The Circle Jerks spent a whole career writing punk anthems with plenty of dumb lyrics and music history still fondly remembers them.

More to the Jerks’ spirit and very unlike most modern day punk rock bands, The Sleazies completely omit love songs from their repertoire. The topics that the band chooses to explore instead include erectile deficiency, lust for older women and good old-fashioned sex. As you might imagine, the band tackles these issues with a lack of seriousness and instead take a more humoristic and simplistic approach to the material. The Sleazies show that some punk bands still prefer to pay homage to the old school. If you like your punk rock a little rough around the edges, this album should be right up your alley.

Dustin Reed
Aversion

I reviewed this bands brilliantly stoopid EP on Rapid Pulse last year and I loved it. These guys are fun, dumb and well dressed. That’s all I ask of people. Look good, sound stupid and make me do a little dance. Is that really too much to ask? Anyway, this CD’s got 11 tracks of poppy 77-sounding retarded musings about self operating, eating glue sammiches and kids drinking poison. To throw in the obligatory STITCHES comparison wouldn’t be a bad idea right about now...

(BM)
MRR #250

The sleeve of this record is a real turn on, a red lipsticked gal having The Sleazies logo on her big breasts, not to speak about the back sleeve where she’s being licked between her bad boys. I actually thought I was done with this newer generation Screeching Weasel-licked punk rock stuff. The Sleazies gave me a new view on this stream of punk rock music. This record kicks in right away with the strong tune “Gonna Operate On Myself”, bringin’ me totally down with the 70’s Angry Samoans-styled punk, and Screeching Weasel’s catchy “anthem for a new tomorrow”-styled punk rock. I fell for the hot 70’s-like lyrics about junkies and sex, who said I only like love songs? “Glue Sandwich”, “I Wanna Be A Junky” and “Hot Lunch” make me do the monkey! Killer sing-a-long tunes with attitude, nothing but good tunes! Don’t waste your time hesitating wether to buy this album or not, if you like 70’s-coated trashy punk rock or just punk rock in general you GOTTA have this piece...

Gary Craptalk
Kissee Zine

We love this crap, we really do! Nice hard slammin’ punk to beat on the brat to. With songs like “I Wanna Fuck Your Mom” you know they’re bound to be a huge hit on MTV. So it must good!

Starr Tucker
NY Waste

Well, whatever vile activities this trio has engaged in during their presumably amazingly outrageous comings and goings might be, thumbing their collective nostrils at the Truth-in-Advertising laws is not one of them. The Sleazies sleaze through a collection of rapid-fire odes to heroin, truck bombs, glue sandwiches and Aretha Franklin (unfortunately, not all in the same song), with occasional subtle but nuts-on production flourishes (e.g. the harmony vocals during the chorus of “Gonna Operate on Myself”) that lead me to believe that either they know a bit more than they let on or that the guy running the studio that day was kind of smart. The four outstanding tracks are the aforementioned “Gonna Operate on Myself” - similar to, but superior than, the title track of the Rubber City Rebels’ 2003 Pierce My Brain reunion album; the befouled Joel Reader-era MTX-isms of “Runaway Joni”; the pretty-much-what-you-think-it-is-Teenage-Knockouts-isms of “Hot Lunch”; and “I Wanna Fuck Your Mom” - a song so amazingly fantastically perfectly stupid in every regard that it renders all other “I Wanna Fuck Your Mom” songs - of which there are no small supply - completely inert in their non-amazingly non-fantastically imperfect stupidity. I give this one thumb and part of a penis up! BEST SONG: “Runaway Joni” BEST SONG TITLE: “Glue Sandwich,” and I’m sure they know it. FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: CD booklet depicts the band’s bare hinders, in full color yet! The band’s spokesperson at MTV™ later apologized on behalf of the band for the ”waredrobe malfunction.“

Rev. Norb
Razorcake #19

As you should know by now, I’m often behind the curve in terms of discovering new bands or new releases. Here’s one that’s been out for 2 years, but it’s just hitting my CD player now. I was inspired to get it after seeing The Sleazies live show, and being hooked by their poppy melodies, punk attitude and chops, and general air of not giving a shit about anything besides having a good time. They were on and off the stage, bouncing off audience members and each other, and never missed a beat. The Cd turns out to be even better, ‘cause now I can actually understand the ridiculously outrageous lyrics. Let’s just say they live up to their band name.

Bmo
Bmo’s World