Global Edition

Hell, man, I don't know
But it's all in the name of rock and roll
So let the stupidness begin

Like your rock a little rough and raw and edgy? Hip lyrics? A hint of punk, but melodic rather than moronic? Fat grungy riffs and dirty "no fear" guitar solos? Check, check, check? Read on.

Sexy Losers may be The High Score's debut album, but these vets of the Knoxville scene are hardly amateurs at this rock thing. Drummer Jason Peters and guitarist/vocalist Robbie Trosper have paid their dues in a number of Knoxville's constantly changing ensembles, most recently as The Faults with former V-Roy and current Superdrag guitarist Mic Harrison.

The rocking Sexy Losers actually seems like a more natural vehicle for Peters and Trosper than the roots rock alt-country sound of The Faults did. Both men come out of the punky, hard-rocking garage band side of the Knoxville scene (and I ain't talkin' about no "let's sound all kitschy like the '60s" garage bands, I'm talking about guys who play in the garage because in there they can tear it up anyway they want without worrying about whether some lameass club owner is gonna say "turn it down and play a song the audience knows"). Working with bassist Dave Walker and guitarist/vocalist Chris Cook (former frontman for Mustard), they've manufactured a very confident "recorded at home on eight track" rock album that on repeated listens separates itself from the current en vogue rock sound. Its strong suit is that "can't be bothered with playing the part of a rock star" feeling that is implied in every song, a subliminal message in the playing and lyrics and attitude that says "we've had smoke blown up our asses before;" that primal scream "shut up or I'll whip your ass" attitude that says "c'mon, man, we just like to play, now leave us alone or buy us a beer."

I don't wanna think tonight
And I don't wanna think the whole world's crowding me

It never hurts to be able to tell that a rock band is having fun with the music rather than pretending to be some sort of messiahs or chosen bearers of "the message" as any number of these poseur MTV rock bands do (or even worse, pretending that playing rock is onerous hard work). While it would be completely wrong to characterize High Score lyrics as throwaway or mindless, there is a flippant hipness and just the right dose of self-deprecation in bar anthems like "Drunk Punk" (with its slightly surly V-Roys-with-a-hangover-and-a-black-eye vibe) and "Baby Take a Look at Yourself" to make this a band that can endear itself to an open set of ears fairly quickly. There are numerous pleasant surprises on the album where a listener snaps: "what did they say; I gotta hear that again; wow, that's cool." Sounds like rock and roll to me.

No one likes a drunkard, he's always pissed off
He's getting away with the stupid things he says
And what's he got to prove, his glory days are through

The High Score capture the bar scene in "She Don't Love Me" as only a good bar band can. Trosper's voice is full of a false tough-guy-at-the-bar surliness that runs counter to the nothing-ever-works-out-right underlying message. The sound here runs in a direct evolutionary line from the V-Roys and the Premo Dopes through the Faults to The High Score. If there is a Knoxville sound, this is it.

Sitting at the bar, drinkin' PBR
She was lookin' right back at me
I don't know why, that girl ain't right
But when she's around I want to sing to her

And she's gonna leave me miserable
'Cause she don't love me like she thinks

On the semi-autobiographical "Motley Who?" Trosper recalls how the whole music thing began for he and teenage pal Peters, who've been playing in bands together for years. It is also as true a universal homage to the musician's life as we are likely to hear any time soon.

I must have been thirteen
Me and my Walkman, roaming the streets
What's a stupid white kid supposed to do
But listen to Motley Crue?

There's lots of delicious angst here in well-conceived songs like "I Feel Bad For You," "Songs to Break Up To '95," and especially the punky "Call It Vicious."

I don't know why they call it vicious
And I've been known to lose my patience
And all my anger, well it wastes me but it saves me

Sexy Losers is another in a long series (call it a tradition even) of homemade homegrown Knoxville homeboy music. What it lacks in spit and polish and fancy schmantz production, pitch-perfect vocals, and foot-tangling choreography it makes up for in grit, emotion, utter realness, and a complete absence of any sense of commerciality and trendiness. Screw Teen Spirit. This smells like rock and roll to me.

* http://www.thehighscore.net/ and http://www.lynnpoint.com/