When Easy Action smears hate and bourbon all over Roxy Music's "If There Is Something" on its snaggletoothed self-titled debut, it's akin to the painting of a mustached Mona Lisa: a complete debasing of something that was once beautiful. Kind of like Fabolous and the Cure, Easy Action belies its name, as there's nothing simple or painless about these racket-lusting Midwesterners. Fronted by John Brannon, who came to fame -- relatively speaking -- by helming the underappreciated Laughing Hyenas, Easy Action picks up right where that band left off, further submerging damaged, tone-deaf blues rock in blood, sweat, and beers.
Now, the art of making noise has long since been perfected -- see the Merzbox if y'all have any questions -- and Easy Action isn't out to one-up anybody in the "Is that a song or an aircraft at takeoff?" sweepstakes. Instead, these boys are out to shake hips as much as curl lips by melding their menace with a real knack for memorable, hook-laden songs. The results are best described in one way: pretty ugly.