Film stars fronting rock bands? Whatever next… Admittedly Juliette Lewis isn’t quite in the same league as Julia Roberts when it becomes to Hollywood stardom, but she’s still pretty well known, making it slightly odd that she’s fronting a band that rocks and rolls. Imagine Courtney Love fronting the Rolling Stones, had they started life in the 21st Century. Rightly, the press have had a field day and enjoyed running many features on Miss Lewis and her band, simply because of who she is. Because of that, I honestly didn’t expect all that much from this six-tracker – after all, soap stars have a terrible history of transferring the small screen to your stereo, so why should a Hollywood star fair any better? Therefore, I was nicely surprised when this turned out to be a real foot-stomper.
The first thing to note is that Miss Lewis has a real shriek; there’s certainly nothing fake about her voice and her yell throws back nods towards Joan Jett and Siouxsie Sioux. ‘Shelter Your Needs’ and ‘Comin’ Around’ have choruses many bands would die for, and this is all encased in a sound that’s not overly produced. There’s a raw energy and passion encapsulated here that stands out – I guess if you’re going to play that Iggy Pop-style rock and roll, that requires a confidence and swagger, you need to have that in abundance. Surprisingly, for me anyway, Juliette and the Licks have that arrogance – and lots of it.
Of course a lot of the hype about this band will remain around their singer, just because of who she is, but the music really does the talking. The songs have everything you could ask for in this kind of music, and anyone who doesn’t tap away or nod their head in appreciation to ‘Shelter Your Needs’ is clearly deaf. Well worth checking out, even if you’ve been put off by the ‘hype’…
Hassle/Fiddler
Paul