The Dwarves - Salt Lake City 7"

My favourite thing I've ever read about the Dwarves was on Allmusic.com. The last sentence of the review of "The Dwarves Must Die" it says, "If it wasn't for the blood and nudity, they'd be huge." I think this sums up the Dwarves better than any other statement. These guys can write catchy hooky punk rock. They play incredibly tight. They have all the makings or rock and roll success, but I think they just don't want to make it very easy to be marketed. Their albums and singles have lots of naked women and lots of blood. I don't see Wallmart carrying any other their releases anytime soon.

I have quite a few of their singles. I love this one because I can relate to the song. I lived in Utah for a few years and can completely sympathize with the sentiment of not wanting to go there. My wife and I went to school there and they day after my wife finished school we packed up a U-haul truck and got out of there. It's been over ten years now and we've never looked back.

"Salt Lake City" also has guest vocals by Dexter Holland. If you know the Offspring, you'll be able to pick out his distinct voice. The song feels a lot like the Ramones. So if you like that straight ahead punk sound that the Ramones pioneered, then you'll love this song.

"Go" is a great thrasher of a number. The song kicks in going a hundred miles an hour and never lets up. It is only a minute and a half long and fun the whole way through.

"Kaotica" is a complete change of pace. It is a sort of experimental rock/hip hop song. Kind of hard to classify and describe. It is definitely in its own world. You may love it or you may hate it. I'll just say that sometimes I love it's wackiness and other times it is just annoying. I think it depends on your mood.

My first real introduction to The Dwarves was at a "Hellbilly" show. The show was actually supposed to be a "Demented Are Go" show, but they had some trouble with immigration at the last moment and couldn't make the show. The first act of the night was Blag Dahlia doing a solo acoustic set. His songs were catchy and had a funny sense of humor. For a taste of what that show was like you can download a song called "This Jihad" from the Dwarves website for free. He did that song that night. It was enough to get me interested in hearing more. I had seen their records in the 7" bin with the outrageous covers, but now I had a reason to buy them. I fell in love. This 7" was part of that original purchase of records.

This past year I finally had the chance to see the Dwarves. I had heard they had a crazy stage show, but I wasn't really ready for what I got. I took my son to the show. He was 15 at the time. He knew the songs and loved their music as well. We saw them at Safari Sams in LA. The stage there isn't very high and we were right up front. So when they took the stage and the guitarist came out wearing nothing but a Mexican wrestling mask, socks and boots it was shocking. It was even more shocking when the guitarist ended up right next to me and I had his penis just about a foot away from my face for most of the show. Eventually the shock wore off and I had a really good time at the show. They have so many great songs from such a long career that it was just hit after hit. They weren't promoting a new record, so I knew all the songs. So if you aren't put off by a naked man playing guitar, then I highly recommend seeing the Dwarves live. It will be a night you won't forget. Until then you can rock out to these three songs.

Enjoy!

01 Salt Lake City.m4a
02 Go!.m4a
03 Kaotica.m4a