Who knew kindergarten could rock? The opening track of Mothership's release Rockstar sounds like hip, powerful rock 'n roll (Weezer, The White Stripes with a dash of Guardian metal), but the lyrics are purely TV sitcom: "Standing at the gate the teacher waves them on. We see them walk away our little baby's gone." Adult rock. Not exactly.
Randy Rose (formerly of Mad at the World and Rose) is back with a respectable album of tube-distorted, cymbal-clashing rock with his band Mothership, which also features his brother Danny Rose on bass and Scott Benjamin on drums and percussion.
Though a full-page HM Magazine ad touts the album as one for fans of The Hives, The Strokes or The Vines, Rockstar runs the gamut from grunge to glam rock instead of staying behind the garage door--and that's OK. Rose intermixes styles as diverse as T. Rex ("Be Nice To Me"), early Nirvana ("Avalanche of Sad") and The Beatles ("Mona Lisa") to conjure a surprisingly pleasing vibe.
The Hives reference in the ad is not without merit: in fact, the first eight seconds of Mothership's "Should've Known Better," are a dead-ringer for the start of The Hives' hit, "Hate To Say I Told You So." (The eye-brow-raising similarity ends thereafter as the song slides into a very Guardian-like hard rocker.)
Despite perhaps paying too close attention to replicating the successful sounds of other hot bands, Rose's latest project is a valid attempt to fill a void in the Christian market--raw, tight, garage-style rock 'n roll.
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