 Artwork from SquidHat Records. Ugh, he rhymed 'gutter' with 'mother'... lol And the title of this album is terrible. Reminds me of Overkill's song Hello From The Gutter. I mean, most of these guys in this band live in posh houses in swanky well to do neighborhoods. They're about as gutter as Trump is honest. 😅 This debut album from Dirk Vermin & The Hostile Talent, called Sweet Dreams (From The Gutter) is basically the second Naked City Romeos release, without the swagger of Eric on vocals and Cory's creepy fingerwork on bass. Either that or it's the whatever numbered release from The Vermin, with an added second guitar and minus the vocal work of whiskey grizzled goofball Senor Rob Ruckus, who's a THC master extraordinaire of sorts nowadays. This sounds like everything Dirk Vermin has done before musically. I mean, having a sound is not a bad thing. Dirk Vermin has a sound, a recognizable style about him with everything he does musically, same with Lee Ving, Glenn Danzig, whoever, and this release has Dirk's DNA all over it's pretty face for better or for worse. Production wise it sounds great, it's mixed well, the "all-star" lineup of musicians assembled for this project all shine in their collective instrument spotlight, but I dunno, minus a few exceptional songs - Hey Rockstar, Middle Finger, this sounds like some ham fisted glammy shit from back in the 90's when the Punk Rock dudes from the 80's let their hair grow long and joined Rock 'N' Roll bands and did major amounts of blow and then rode their Harley's up and down Melrose looking for underage teenage chicks to impress with their musical coolness. Think Steve Jones Fire And Gasoline era and Brian Baker's stint in Junkyard and you'll get the reference. 😎 That's what this release reminds me of. Wasn't expecting a reinvention of the wheel but was hoping for something better than this. Dirk Vermin & The Hostile Talent have a tee shirt that says 'your Dad's Punk Rock', and it's a pretty apt description of the band: it's slow, it's old, it's drunk, cranky, and probably up way past it's bedtime. Meh. And speaking of the Naked City Romeos, why did the band redo that Kill The Rat song by them, which the Naked City Romeos's do better, BTW, as well as a few other kind of obscure Vermin cover songs? I guess it's because that's what old Punk guys do - they re-record their earlier catalog because they can play it better now or because they no longer own the rights to said early material and are looking to cash in... hee hee hee I love my friends in Dirk Vermin & The Hostile Talent but this release is pretty much relegated to background music for guys having a midlife crisis while working out at the gym. Dad Punk. I'll Pass. Available from the wonderful folks at Squid Hat Records on beautiful red colored vinyl by clicking here. Also available digitally by clicking here. Available for streaming and purchase on Amazon (click here), Spotify (click here), Best Buy (click here) and wherever else Punk Music is sold like the cheap disposable commodity that it is. "Like" Dirk Vermin & The Hostile Talent on Facebook by clicking here.
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