You know the situation – you stand there smiling wildly but it’s at the most inappropriate moment. It may be during your boss’s tearful resignation speech or some serious family occasion or when someone sadly tells you that their goldfish has died. It is an all too common circumstance and leaves you fighting a dreaded attack of the uncontrollable grin syndrome. You can however be rescued by this album and this time it is highly appropriate to smile like an idiot. If you are a fan of high-speed sleaze punk with a great twist then do yourself a favour and play Poison Ivvy’s Out For The Kill (Crazy Love Records 2008) and you can grin away to your hearts content throughout. You will too - promise.
Poison Ivvy, yep that’s how they spell it, are not what you would necessarily expect to come out of beautiful Switzerland’s Zurich but now they’ve broken out – they are most definitely Out For The Kill. In fact, this is their fourth studio album in a near twenty year hard gigging existence, their first full length release for nearly seven years, following on from Call Of The Wild back in 1996, Cosmic Trash and Cheap Thrills. In Switzerland and large swathes of Europe they have already achieved semi-legend status and have a large and loyal following. This long awaited album will only add to their already impressive past.
The artwork gives you a little taster with it’s Pulp Fiction style design and a photograph of the most evil looking car I have ever seen, in this case a Buick Eight. The band members' names supply further clues. Guitar and vocals are covered by Mr. Trash, bass by Toti Delicious and the machine gun drums by Nick Nitro. I like this band; I like the attitude, the sense of fun, and the all out commitment to the cause. Poison Ivvy are what they are and don’t give a flying fender whether you like it or not.
Like some kind of demented speed record attempt, the album kicks off with “Nothing’s Alright” which is just so much fun that it instantly makes you want to go partying all night and look like death in the morning. In fact, the very first line sets the scene perfectly, ‘I woke up in the morning and found myself laying face down on the ground’. Doesn’t this tell you where we are going?
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