Jackson Firebird – Cock Rockin

@planetmosh reviews Cock Rockin by .@JacksonFirebird on @NapalmRecords

“Cock Rockin” is the debut album from Aussie rockers Jackson Firebird, due for release on March 31st.  Jackson Firebird are Brendan Harvey on guitar and vocals and Dale Hudak on drums, bottle bin (more on that later!) and vocals.  The album was recorded in several sessions over a year at Mixmasters studio in Adelaide with engineer/producer Mick Wordley.  They chose this particular producer and studio because of his reputation with live music, and the fact they wanted the album to re-create their live sound.  The band was actually formed in 2006 and have spent the years honing a live performance and sound, so it was important the debut album reflected that.  Just like fellow Aussies The Graveltones, they are a two-piece, one guitar and one drum kit, who make more noise than should be humanly possible.  Which brings me back to the bottle bin.  It was at a party when Hudak started drumming on anything he could find that he came across the concept of upturning a bottle bin, attaching a microphone and bashing the living daylights out of it.  This has now become an integral part of the Jackson Firebird sound, so much so that their previous release, a five track EP in 2008 was named Bottle Bin.

The album is named after the first track, Cock Rockin, because Harvey and Dudak felt it best summed up what they wanted to achieve, a stripped back sound that lets it all hang out and isn’t afraid to be itself.  It’s noisy, swear-laced, raw and travels at 100mph.  Harvey’s vocals, especially on Cock Rockin, sound like sandpaper and Hudak’s drums sound like he has three pairs of arms.  They really have captured the live experience, if I’m correct in imagining a Jackson Firebird gig to be jam-packed with sweaty, hairy bodies, jumping, bumping and causing general mayhem.

Standout songs on the album include Cock Rockin, which sets the tone for the whole album.  As an aside, as previously reported on Planetmosh if you haven’t seen the video you haven’t lived, it’s to be seen to be believed.  Quan Dang, a tale of “a five-foot-two hustler with a really large wang,” sounds like Rage Against the Machine teamed up with Beats International.  There can’t be many rock albums which sample the lyric “tank fly boss walk jam nitty gritty, you’re listening to the boy from the big bad city.”  My top track is Sweet Eloise, a story of a breakup which turns into an angry rant, “sick of the lying, sick of all the fighting.”  It may have taken eight years from forming the band to releasing an album, but it’s been time well spent.  This is a band who know who they are, they have a distinct sound, formed over hundreds of hours of gigging and generally beating the hell out of anything that makes a noise.  They’re about to head to Europe to tour with Scorpion Child.  No UK dates as yet, but hopefully we’ll see them  before too long.

Track Listing.

1)Cock Rockin

2)She Said

3)Rock Solid

4)Quan Dang

5)Red Light

6)Little Missy

7)Can Roll

8)Goin out West

9)Sweet Eloise

10)Red Hair Honey