I want you to meet four fine fellows from Baton Rouge who call themselves UNDUN. UNDUN rocks your butt like few bands I’ve heard of late. And for a bunch of old farts like me, that’s pretty damned impressive. I had the pleasure of receiving their first CD and wanted to share with you all what I thought of it. The album is about broken relationships, fast cars, fast women and the “wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am” wild ass sex that is truly rock and roll. I’m hooked!
The album starts off with the head bangin’ tune “Bring Down” and sets up your ears for the riff-driven assault they are about to receive. And what an assault it is! If I had to compare their sound, and I hate doing this as I want folks to come to their own conclusions, but they sound like Metallica when they were good rockers. The key here is UNDUN is good at what they do. All 14 tracks are original hard rockin’ tunes. Even the laid back “Driven” still rocks you toward the end. No ballads for these guys! My favorite track is “So Wrong” as it just gets me playin’ air-bass every time.
Above you’ll find Brian Faler, the guitarist in the cool Wal-mart shirt, then David Burton who’s damn good lookin’ in that hat, drummer Tad Snow who’s nearly ready to give up that part-time job at Domino’s, and then finally the ultra-cool bassist Jerry “Ziggy” Singleton. Why is Ziggy cool? One, he goes by Ziggy, two, he’s a fellow bass player like me, and we bass players have a really strong union, but most importantly, Ziggy is a HUGE fan of the comic! You rock, man!
So, put down that latte and go to UNDUN’s website (www.undunband.com) and order their CD and a cool black t-shirt. Tell ‘em Byron sent you and they promise not to laugh.
(Oh, today’s comic title is the 9th track on their CD… I think of “Beverly Hills Cop” Bronson Pinchot’s character Serge as he goes “Get the f**k out!” Only I would think of that. BTW, the original draft of “Beverly Hills Cop” was written in… wait for it… 1977! YES!)
Great review, but I found one flaw!! There was no mention of Graham, the good looking, English soundman!!
Hmmm, now would that be…YOU! Graham is a cool name, reminds me of Graham Edge, drummer of the Moody Blues. Next time I’ll include the “roadies” in the background!
Glad you liked the review, save that one all-important omission!
I LOVE this CD, I have the black t-shirt, and I absolutely agree with everything you said!!! And it’s ok that you forgot about my FAUX “Hubby,” the sound guy. He’s sexy enough with his English accent
Man, I do love an English accent… makes me wanna go over there and share a pint or two with a few mates of mine! Bob’s your Uncle!
No relation, I assume, to the death metal band Undun, who released the albums Caged and Purification of Sin.
Death Metal out of Baton Rouge? Not these guys… they just rock!
This relates to my blog the other day about Heavy Metal vs. Hard Rock and these guys are Hard Rock, but some of their stuff can be looked at as Metal.
http://tr1studios.blogspot.com/2009/09/heavy-metal-vs-heavy-rock.html
They say I’m more than a roadie………I’m the ladies man of the band!! lol The youngest & best looking
If you go to my myspace page, somewhere amongst the thousands of photos, is a picture of the t-shirt they made for me with a list of my “duties”!!
Well, if you like my comic, you should checked out this one:
http://roadcrewcomic.com/
Freakin’ hilarious! You can probably relate. When I gigged back in the 70s, we were our own roadies and I pretty much handle most of the audio set ups. We could exchange a few horror stories I’m sure. Like the time I nearly blew out all the ears of a bunch of 13 year old kids as we did a gig in a gym one time. Tad too loud I was told…
I saved you the trouble of looking for it………I tagged you in it
I had seen that shot on the website, and I love it. Every word true, no doubt. Fluffer, eh? Hmmm…
there is much win in this post :3
I wanted the new site design to allow me to do stuff like this, and if I’m going to do a review, then I’m gonna so a smart-ass comic to go along with it. Seems fair.
I Love this band! These guys will rock your ass off!!! Not to mention they are all really awesome guys, and yes that includes you Graham, lol.
If I’m ever in Baton Rouge (which is likely as I get around) then I’m taking in one of their gigs for sure. I want Graham to be my fluffer too… (one of his duties on his shirt).
He’s also a Bitch!! lol (Sorry Graham) but it is another one of his many duties.
Byron your site is great! Will check it out often now.
LOL! Poor Graham is getting his butt kicked here… typical for the behind the scenes guy!
Glad you like the comic and I’m glad to have you along for the ride! Rock on, man…
Girl…. he he he
I do all the work, take all the flak, get told its too loud………..I think I need to quit!!
Hey, just wait until I get you guys booked into a Chicago club… you’ll think twice about quitting!
Hey Byron!!! Ziggy here! You are the man! I had an early day at work and didn’t have time to make a comment at 5AM before I headed out the door. BUT… I did call and wake up our guitar player to tell him about it.
When I opened up 1977thecomic.com this morning for my fix… I just about crapped on myself! =) We really appreciate your review and your very kind words!!! I owe ya one! =) Maybe I will send you some of my beer when I finally get around to making some more. Do ya like stout?
Ziggy
You’re welcome! The band is great and we need some God-damn rock and roll these days as I’m tired of all the other crap being played on the airwaves… and I’ve heard the 70s rock WAY too much by now, so keep on rockin’ man!
If it’s BEER… I drink it. Stout’s fine by me… I may have to make a road trip out of this… never been to Baton Rouge.
ROAD TRIP!!
Oh, did you notice the “Your Name Here” on your T-shirt? Kinda hard to see as your strap got in the way, but I love putting little shit like that in comics.
BTW… Graham is a phenomenal fluffer. And I will make sure he takes GOOD care of you! LOL
As long as there’s some beer in there some where, I’m game…
Thanks Byron, we may get up there soon. Kids live in libertyville. We’d loved to play at Austin’s, do you have connections?
I know a ton of people… I’ll put the word out and see what I can dig up for you guys. If you have family in the area then we gotta get you booked. Who handles your bookings? Have them drop me a line at my comic email (byron@1977thecomic.com) and I’ll pass along some contacts.
Libertyville is not that far from me, a bit north. I’m just south of Aurora if you know the area at all. But I’d love to visit Baton Rouge… just a cool name.
Wait Beverly Hills Cop is an 80′s reference that you know but not Madonna songs. haha
Hey, you think a 70s rocker is gonna listen to Madonna? But Eddie Murphy was funny back then (not now) and was a blast on SNL. So I know a lot of 80s movies as that’s when I was dating my wife and before we had kids we’d hit the movies all the time. Actually, I believe “Raiders of the Lost Ark” was one of the first films we saw together. Man, that was forever ago.
But did you notice I snuck in a 1977 reference as that’s when the first draft of the movie was written!! I thought it was clever…
But I like 70s rock AND Madonna. Am I in trouble again?
Nah, just in deep shit…
There’s only one Madonna song I like, “Open Your Heart” from her “True Blue” CD which we got from a friend who bought it by mistake and gave it to my wife. She has a great voice, just not into her music style. Where’s the over-driven guitars, man?
Hey Ive got the CD and my son works with Ziggy. I went and heard em play at a club one night with my ol lady and these frickin guys ROCK!!! They groove the place till it all comes UNDUN! Ziggy is the bomb! The dude is SUPER cool and a truly good person even outside of gigging. You owe it to yourself to hear these cats.
Thanks man. I must say I love the comic but the music recommendations would keep me coming back even if I didn’t!
Baby Boomers kick my generations ass when it comes to rock and roll.