 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Drew6
We Kiss
Club West Records
Oh, to have been a fly on the wall at an INXS practice session. Imagine the looks on the faces of the five other guys as Michael Hutchence read: “I need you tonight ’cause I’m not sleeping. There’s something about you girl that makes me sweat.” They shift uncomfortably, no one making eye contact, and each thinking, “You can’t be serious,” followed by “Ka-ching!!!”
See, it’s one thing to write questionable lyrics but quite another to do it successfully. Groups like INXS and, similarly, local boys Drew6, shamelessly do what others can’t or won’t, which is to write mass-appeal pop songs. Self-aware singer-songwriters, all smug, sincere and broke as hell, may dismiss pop artists, but what’s most important is where that trail of laughter leads, which is straight to the bank.
With its latest, We Kiss, Drew6 shows it has no pretenses. The record is an unbelievably polished collection of catches and traps carefully designed to ensnare the female listener. With a sharp ear to the ’80s, We Kiss runs the gamut from upbeat electro-pop to snakey slowdowns. Gooey synths melt across distorted yet restrained guitars to back up singer Drew Six’s extra-breathy delivery.
And throughout hovers the ghost of Hutchence. The late God of Sexy’s invisible hand guides Drew6 through hook and groove, blessing every immodest line and sweaty grunt. In the finest tradition of the Me Decade, Drew6 doesn’t bother with coy suggestion. What with terrorists lurking around every corner and impending economic collapse, who has time for courtship? As Six bluntly puts it on the track “Deeper Pleasure:” “Don’t you wanna go … all the way? Uh! Uh! Uh!”
Profound meaning may be buried somewhere on We Kiss, but let’s hope not. It would actually be disappointing to find Six has anything other than getting it on in mind when he cries out: “It’s go time, it’s lock and load time. Here’s the lowdown, I came to throw down!”
At only nine songs, including the requisite acoustic, power-ballad closer, We Kiss manages to efficiently check off each party-band requirement in record time. The group even drops a cover of Blondie’s classic “Call Me.” Despite using every trick in the book, it doesn’t nearly match the sleaze of the original, but Drew6 doesn’t need Debbie Harry to get down. On the opener, “Next Best Feeling,” Six croons: “Feel the beat grow thicker. You’re all I want to do.” Thicker? Eat your heart out Madonna. You too, Prince!
Six and his group won’t ever be accused of subtlety, but neither was Hutchence, and that guy made millions. Music snobs scoff all you want, but if these guys hit it big, it’s going to be your little sister, or possibly mom, screaming from the front row. — steven m. garcia { special to ink }
We Kiss reviewed by Ink Magazine
