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Tracklist
01. gimme germs
02. smell my tongue
03. carpool Lane
04. dead
05. stranger to me
06. blasphemy
07. yellow snow drink
08. electro bike asshole
09. get drunk on you
10. i love you
11. devil baby
12. my down is your up
13. dead (mortem batkovic)
69. gimme germs (live)
99. you’re class i’m trash
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The Monsters "you're class i'm trash"
FORMAT LP+DL+7": VR12119 (Bar-Code: 7640148983068)
FORMAT CD: VRCD119 (Bar-Code: 7640148983105)
Original Release Year : 12.11.2021
Nestled centrally within landlocked Switzerland is the quaint town of Bern, a place where world leaders regularly meet, 12th century medieval architecture gracefully intersects modern designs, and the location where Einstein’s Theory of Relativity was originated. Class is a term synonymous with this town given its historical and cultural heritage but in the case of the chainsaw-on-steel sound of legendary Bernese garage punks, The Monsters, class is an irrelevant term to them. Thanks to COVID-19, the touring life of this Bernese super trash machine was put on halt and they used their newfound time to write and record the apocalyptic, hi-speed-boogie-fuzz-garage-trash-rock-n-roll songs you have in your hands here. A new album wasn’t enough for the quartet during the year; they were also contracted by Swiss film composer Mario Batkovic to assist in the soundtrack composition of a small horror opera, which will soon be announced.
The Monsters formed in 1986 in Bern, Switzerland as an alternative to the popular music of the time (i.e. Disco, Pop, Top 40 Rock). Mixing rockabilly with punk rock and garage, their brand of Teenage Primitive Rock n’ Roll Chainsaw Massacre Garage Trash has kept them as an in demand punk rock band touring the world playing festivals and large halls as far east as Japan, south as Brazil, north as Scandinavia, and west as New York City.
And then 2020 hit, YAHOO!!! The world went into a complete lockdown and everyone’s plans changed! With no touring in the near future, the time was now to write a new album so the band dedicated two weeks to going to their practice space to write new music and another two weeks at Bern’s Shirt Off Studio to record. Voila! Here you have Rosemary’s Baby in your hand: 13 raw, loud, and splatter sounding tracks recorded live on the fly with no overdubs, vocals only. Lyrically, the album is a complete disaster with 120 words comprising the whole thing and hell, the words on this LP sometimes don’t make any sense! It’s actually complete rubbish with how they sing but we love it! We love it so much that we decided to release it and pull in two other established labels to release it alongside us!
Sounds of Subterrania are releasing a special knitted cover limited edition and Slovenly Records are releasing the LP with all songs sung in Schwitzerdütsch, the band’s native tongue and official language of Switzerland. Outside of a couple million people, no one else speaks, it’s not even a written language, you only speak it, and barely anyone can learn it without knowing a native speaker! Anyway, Slovenly Records loved that idea, so they’re going with it.
Cover Artwork by Jerry Haenggli a Bern Surrealist Painter .. Anyway, you’re in for a treat if you’re reading this, so here we go. Hold onto your ears and lock your daughters away, The Monsters are on the loose!
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DEUTSCH
The Monsters wurde 1986 in Bern der Schweiz gegründet, als Alternative zur damaligen populären Musik (z. B. Disco, Pop, Top 40 Rock). sie nannten dies: Teenage Primitive Rock n' Roll Chainsaw Massacre Garage Trash mix up Rockabilly mit Punkrock und Garage und haben sich zu einer gefragten Punkrockband gemacht, die auf Festivals Klubs und großen Hallen so weit gen Osten zu wie Japan, dem Süden wie Brasilien und gen Norden zu den Skandinavier und in den wilden westlich wie New York City.
Und dann 2020 öffnet die Türen, YAHOO!!! Die Welt wurde komplett abgeschottet und die Pläne aller änderten sich! Da es in naher Zukunft keine Tourneen gab, war es jetzt an der Zeit, ein neues Album zu schreiben, also widmete die Band zwei Wochen, um in ihren Proberaum zu gehen und neue Musik zu schreiben, und 3 Tage im Berner Shirt Off Studio um sie aufzunehmen. Voila! Hier hast du Rosemary’s Baby den Knüppel im sack: 13 raue, laute und spritzig klingende Tracks, die live ohne Overdubs, (nur Gesang) aufgenommen wurden. Textlich ist das Album eine komplette Katastrophe mit 120 Wörtern und ergeben meisten falls keinen Sinn! Es ist eigentlich völliger Quatsch, aber wir lieben es! Wir lieben es so sehr, dass wir beschlossen haben, es zu veröffentlichen und zwei andere etablierte Labels hinzuzuziehen, um es neben uns zu veröffentlichen!
Sounds of Subterranea veröffentlichen ein spezielles Strickcover in limitierter Auflage und Slovenly Records veröffentlicht die LP mit allen Liedern, in Schwitzerdütsch, der Muttersprache der Band und Amtssprache der Schweiz. Außer etwa ein paar Millionen Menschen spricht niemand diese Sprache, und ist nicht einmal eine geschriebene Sprache, man spricht sie nur und kaum jemand kann sie lernen, ohne einen Muttersprachler zu kennen! Wie auch immer, Slovenly Records liebte diese Idee, also machen sie mit. Wie auch immer, Sie werden sich freuen, wenn Sie dies lesen, also los geht's. Cover Artwork ist vom Berner Surrealisten Jerry Haenggli, Halt deine Ohren fest und sperr deine Töchter weg, Die Monster sind los!
REVIEWS:
SLOVENLY
Slovenly’s mother tongue recordings imprint is psyched beyond belief to present to the freaks and creeps of planet Earth, the 8th LP from Switzerland's THE MONSTERS: “Du Hesch Cläss Ig Bi Träsch” (“You’re Class I’m Trash”)! Scandinavian Bestial Death Metal? PUH-LEEZE. Japanese Harsh Noise? GIMME A FUCKIN BREAK! This is the true evil that rock’n’rollers do, and you’ll be trembling in your creepers before your asses even get close to bumping to the radical raunch contained on this truly amazing long-player. Even long time rabid fans will be stunned by the sheer magnitude of nastiness and horror here, and if you’re a newcomer, we wish you the best of luck! Yeah, that’s a harpsichord and a choir on the intro. Oops, that’s the outro. We listen to shit backwards and you should too. But so fucking what? Religion rightly scares the piss out of us, and The Monsters make no bones about their just demands of servitude. But you know what the craziest part of this disaster is? It’s not simply that it transcends any trite categories like “GARAGE,” or “PSYCHOBILLY,” or even just (JUST!) “ROCK’n’ROLL,” it’s your perception of maestro Beatman’s tried and true and fried as fuck vocal throttle that’s damaged even further by him singing in Swiss-German for the first time on any of his vast catalog o’ cool, and it’s for the entirety of this monster swingin’ album! You want the English version? Well take your ass to his legendary Voodoo Rhythm label (Records To Ruin Any Party!) and imbibe as you are wont to do, but we’re gambling that this language, which has no formal written application, is going to screw your brains like his charmingly broken English has never done before. No offense, we love everything the Beatman touches, but this bold and genius move has got our lobes knocked up like a barefoot mormon sister-wife. Mondo Mongo, mofos! Familiar tracks from killer records past, like “I’m a Stranger To Me” reappear as “Frömd vo Mir” (hell, that one is almost a cognate) but everything here promises a hellish trip into the void, and we guarantee your eternal delight, but make no promises for your mental welfare.
LOUDER THAN WAR (USA)
Switzerland’s The Monsters return with their new album and let loose a total garage riot.
There are times when an album comes out that in many ways defines and yet defies genres, bending and smashing them to shattered pieces before reconstructing a bastardised version of their own history. On their new album, The Monsters are aiming for just that. I’m going to go with protogarage-trashbilly and be done with it. You’re Class, I’m Trash is a pure aural riot, blasts of stabbing guitars and drums that power the basic garage songs along with vehemence. There’s no attempt to add any flash or dressage. This is pure unadulterated rock ‘n’ roll as it’s rawest, right down to the scarcity of lyrics; many songs consisting of just one line repeated again and again over the careering chaos that ensues. The whole album contains a mere 120 words; quality over quantity.
Led since 1986 by Swiss garage underground legend and owner of Voodoo Rhythm Records, Reverand Beat-Man Zeller, The Monsters have spent the last decades trading in the kind of twisted psychobilly trash that has seen them become a staple fixture on many garage festivals across Europe, just last week playing Spain’s Fuzzville festival. On their new album, they blast straight out and mark their return with the frenetic Gimme Germs, a high-speed fuzz trash riot of a song. It marks the pace for much of the album; a total blast. It’s not all frantic t(h)rash though as they drop in more grooving riffs and rhythms, such as on recent single Dead. After the kind of ramped up fuzz mayhem that we’ve come to expect from them, it drops down into an almost Iggy Pop Passenger-style acoustic groove before signing off with one more blast.
Blasphemy is one of the stand out tracks on the record, following the purest psychobilly lineage of the 13 tracks on offer (15 if you go for one of the versions with added 7″ single). Yellow Snow Drink strips things down, scrapping back the layered distortion to reveal a wonderful acoustic number that recalls the latest Black Lips’ album. It’s nestled neatly in the middle of the album, a brief campfire light in the middle of a psychotic madman-infested Alpine forest. With the flames dead they continue their trash assault on Electrobike Asshole; pure and driven focused anger over a scuzz-drenched rampage.
From there on the album seems to take an even more hellbent twist with songs like Devil Baby and the great My Down Is Your Up. They sign off the album, after leaving you battered and beaten to a bloody pulp, with the requiem reprise Dead (Mortem Batkovic). It comes totally out of leftfield, a funeral march that signs off the album in a most unexpected manner.
All that’s left now is to choose what version you want. Voodoo Rhythm are releasing the album with an added bonus 7″, Sounds of Subterrania with a special knitted cover limited edition of the album, and Slovenly Records are releasing the LP with all songs sung in Schwitzerdütsch, the band’s native tongue and official language of Switzerland. Outside of a couple of million people, no one else speaks, it’s not even a written language, you only speak it, and barely anyone can learn it without knowing a native speaker!
DRESDNER KULTUR MAGAZIN (DE)
Seit 1986 bieten The Monsters der Populärmusik die Stirn und schufen mit ihrem »Teenage Primitive Rock n' Roll Chainsaw Massacre« ein eigenes Anti-Establishment-Entertaiment-Universum, das bis heute funktioniert. Das nun 9. Studioalbum beginnt unvermittelt mit der fluffig-aggressiven Hardcore-Rock'n'Roll-Nummer »Gimme Germs«. In diesen knackigen ersten 85 Sekunden zeigt sich der Bandkopf Beatman mit seinen Mannen so spielfreudig und jugendlich, als hätten sie gerade den wirklich bösen Rock'n'Roll erfunden. Sägender und aggressiver folgt mit »Smell My Tongue« eine vulgäre Kapitalismuskritik, die sich einem erst mit der zweiten Strophe als solche erschließt. In »Carpool Lane« wird es dann noisig und psychedelisch zugleich. Ein Song, der sich stets verändert, schält, entpuppt und wieder in sich zusammenfällt, um am Ende wie ein akustischer bad trip aus den mid sixties zu enden. Ähnlich experimentell geht es weiter, denn auch »Dead« scheint einer wabbeligen und mit viel Fuzz aufgeheizten Jam-Session zu entstammen. Mit »Stranger To Me« geht dann wieder die Post ab, und es gibt ein paar selbstkritische Zeilen in dem wohl texthaltigsten Song auf diesem 13-Track-Album. Abgesehen von der Psychoballade »Yellow Snow Drink« bleibt das Album ein dunkelhumoriges Wechselspiel aus schnellen, fuzzgetränkten Garage-Punksongs und wirklich irren Midtempo-Songs, die einem durchaus das Trommelfell wegbrutzeln können. Mit »Dead (Mortem Batkovic)«, das zusammen mit dem Schweizer Komponisten Mario Batkovic eingespielt wurde, endet das Album mit einem wunderbaren Horror-Hörspiel-Song. Als Zugabe kann man sich dann mit der Bonussingle die Grabesstimmung versauen. Das Album gibt es in drei Varianten auf drei Labels: Neben der besprochenen in englischer Gesangssprache gibt es auch eine auf Schweizerdeutsch und eine Spezialedition, bei der man sich mittels mitgekaufter Wolle ein eigenes Cover zur Platte strickt. Crazy mit Klasse!
DJ Cramér
Hypnosis (MEX)
Garage acelerado lleno de pus y gritos eufóricos con voz de lija que escandalizan a las buenas costumbres.
La vida está llena de adversidades y mientras la mayoría cae rendido ante cualquier dificultad existen algunos necios que no se rinden. La representación viva se puede observar con uno de los hombres más aferrados al rock & roll salitroso que incomoda a las buenas costumbres. Sus amigos lo conocen como Reverend Beat-Man y podría ser el John Waters de la música. Aunque comanda varios proyectos el pilar siempre ha sido The Monsters y ahora está de regreso (si es que alguna vez se fue). Desde hace más de 30 años es el pilar del punk y garage en su natal Suiza. Sin importar que vive en uno de los países más ricos del planeta, su sonido parece que hubiera sido creado en una alcantarilla nauseabunda del tercer mundo. Todo se basa en gritos eufóricos con su voz de lija. La fórmula es bastante simple pero muy pocos la pueden ejecutar como él. Un lustro después de su último material ahora llega un nuevo LP y aunque hay algunas novedades al final es el mismo sonido de siempre. Uno de los secretos de Ramones, Motörhead y Slayer es que siempre sonaron igual pero con un estilo propio. Se trata de una característica que muy pocas agrupaciones en la historia pueden presumir. En el caso de The Monsters lo primero que se observa es que ya no cuenta con dos bateristas como hacen otros grupos como The Melvins. Se podría pensar que eso provocaría una pérdida de poder pero no es así. La inicial “Gimme Germs” demuestra que aunque ahora son menos integrantes se mantiene el sonido rabioso que provoca que te salga espuma de la boca. El hombre de la mirada de maniático tiene claro que lo suyo es la música sudorosa que causa incomodidad entre los más persignados. Además tiene la habilidad de utilizar una simple frase para crear canciones completas. Así lo demuestra con “Smell My Tongue” que llega el minimalismo al límite. Tan solo es necesario repetir las tres palabras del título durante dos minutos y listo. Aunque prevalece el estilo de siempre también hay ciertas experimentaciones que conducen a terrenos que The Monsters no había explorado. Para entender mejor este punto es necesario escuchar (y ver el video) “Mortem” que inclusive fue el primer sencillo del material. Muestra una faceta oscura y tenebrosa que remite a películas como The Omen y Rosemary’s Baby. Además confirma que no es necesario acelerar el ritmo para causar temor.
Pero si lo que quieres es algo simple que remita al rock & roll de los cincuenta como Bo Diddley y su guitarra cuadrada entonces lo tuyo es “Blasphemy”. Un par de riffs y gritos esquizofrénicos son los únicos ingredientes que conforman la canción. Mientras que “Yellow Snow Drink” se adentra en los pantanosos terrenos del hillbilly junto a una letra de tendencias suicidas llena de ironía. La versión convencional del trabajo es publicada por Voodoo Rhythm Records e incluye 13 piezas pero además la edición en LP incluye un 7” con dos temas adicionales. Si eso no es suficiente entonces también existen variantes a cargo de Slovenly Recordings y Sounds of Subterrania con los temas cantados en alemán. Aunque en la actualidad prevalecen los sonidos plastificados con exceso de teclados no todas las bandas son iguales. En lo profundo de las alcantarillas se encuentran grupos como The Monsters que a través de los gritos han creado un estilo propio. No buscan cambiar el mundo ni pregonan mensajes filosóficos sino simplemente quieren que por un instante olvides todas las complicaciones del mundo exterior.
PUNKGLOBE (USA)
The Monsters have a long history of noise-making that stretches back to the ‘80s. At that time, they had more of a psychobilly sound, evidenced on their releases Masks and The Hunch. But they evolved along the way, gradually transforming their sound into the weird, crazy shit it is today. Pure garage punk and trash rock. A sound that has only gotten dirtier, more frantic, and weirder along the way. This is especially so on the Swiss band’s latest release, You're Class, I'm Trash. For this one, bandleader Beat-Man and his fellow rockers have put together a 15-song album of loud, raw material. Probably the punkest album they’ve ever written. Sure, they still serve up the fuzzy, trashed-out garage fare many of us have come to expect from them over the years. They are still The Monsters in every way that matters, but this album is an entirely new beast…and it has bite. I mean, these guys dress like they should be performing oldies at a country club event, but don’t let that fool you—they sound like wild things that crawled out of the gutter with a rabid hunger to make music. The lyrics on this album aren’t terribly complex. You won’t find much poetry or philosophy tucked into the lines. Still, there’s something there. The opening track, Gimme Germs, could be a statement about missing human contact during the pandemic, or maybe it’s just meant to express that he’s horny. The next song, Smell My Tongue, while interesting, seems like absolute nonsense. Both songs are ragers. But track three, Carpool Lane, starts off a little different, with a mighty riff that segues into distorted strumming and a pounding beat, which then devolves into noise, recovers, and then gives us a quiet moment reminiscent of classic rock. Dead is also a little different, with a fuzzy progression, a deliberately sloppy lead that weaves its way through the composition, and no vocals aside from a few well-placed screams. And the album continues with gems as Stranger to Me, Blasphemy, Yellow Snow Drink, Electrobike Asshole, Get Drunk on You, I Love You, Devil Baby, and My Up is Your Down.
Check The Monsters out for yourself. And if you dig their sound, you might want to check out their frontman’s other projects: Lightning Beat-Man, Reverend Beat-Man, and Die Zorros, among others. (James G. Carlson)
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