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THREE REVIEWS BY PHIL RAINONE
TOILET BOYS - Sex Music (deadcityrecordsamerica.com)
The Toilet Boys work in a wide variety of musical areas, but concentrate on their their evil-genius (very cool,) influential style of punk rock. On songs like "Sex Music," "Gimme Everything," "Let's do It Again," that play an essential roll in mirroring, and at the same time influencing glam rock, post punk, and new wave. The latter genre is especially represented as the band adds three remixes of "XXX Music," "Got Nothing," and "Drug of Choice." The Toilet Boys have a love affair with guitar-heavy rock 'n' roll that is the real deal! They build a song from the cornerstones up, with hard bass, super-charged guitars, malicious drums, and keyboards that, together, paint a weird musical portrait of the past, present, and future. This is truly an artistic production, mixing images of rock 'n' roll stardom with everyday life. Throw in a cover of the Ramones' "Carbona Not Glue," and you have a peerless album! - Phil Rainone THE HESHERS - Distance Equals Depth (myspace.com/theheshers.com)
 I love bands that are comfortable enough to take an identifiable genre, in this case, punk, retro- rockabilly, and whatever else they can concoct, and not have to take a great leap forward. "Shut Up" sounds like a long-lost X outtake, while "Better Luck Next Time" is Bouncing Souls-worthy. The Heshers sing about unglamorous realities without either diminishing or inflating their subjects. What you see is what you get, warts and all. "I Think I Am" with it's stop/start heavy cadence, and "The Only One" continue to expand the band's prowess as singers and songwriters with ingeniously simple guitar riffs, and plaintiff, of-the-moment lyrics. Distance Equals Depth is filled with energy and ideas. The result is a thoroughly respectable album. This is not a band that is going to grow by leaps and bounds, and that's a good thing. Their relationship to music and their attempt to make contact with the average punk rock fan is way above average. The songs on Distance Equals Depth cuts to the chase, banging out raveups like "Another Day," and "Bones." Loud, gimick-free production is the mainstay of the album, for a band that has a great respect for their rock 'n' roll heritage. - Phil Rainone
MINDLESS SELF INDULGENCE - Our Pain Your Gain (DVD)
(www.metropolis-records.com)
 Since 1997, Mindless Self Indulgence has been taking the road less traveled as they've been organically combining punk, electronic, hardcore, and picking up a lot of dedicated fans along the way (my son Steve played them for me back in '04!) On their first live DVD, the band recorded three nights at NYC's Webster Hall this past year. The visual of MSI is even better than I had imagined. Live, the band squeezes every ounce of drama that the songs ("The End," "Planet of the Apes," etc.), only allude to in the studio. There's more than enough pseudo-epic melodies and artistic depth here than most bands who just use a DVD as a marketing tool. There's over twenty songs, and behind-the-scenes footage (it's really fun & funny)! Lead singer/guitarist Steve Righ comes off as a goofy, obnoxious blowhard on stage, but there's a method to his madness. He's extremely talented as a singer and guitarist, hitting wide vocals angles, along with Kiss/Cheap Trick-worthy riffs. He generously lets the spotlight shine on the rest of the band, who are also extremely talented, mixing and matching musical genres into some sort of really cool Sci-fi whatcamacallit. That's the best description I can come up with since MSI is definitely on a planet all by themselves, with a grandiose stage presence that defies categorization. They overlay a mountain of guitars that are built from the bottom up with a rhythm section that pounds out a powerful cadence, that wraps itself around the keyboards. MSL music takes aim at an assortment of cultural and sexual themes that are at times inspired by oddness, and directness, that make the band and their music truly original. - Phil Rainone
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