Deadbolt: Voodoo Trucker

Deadbolt: Voodoo Trucker
Label: Cargo
Release Date: 2000
Review Date: 2000

The latest release from the self proclaimed “Scariest band in the world.” Like some of their previous albums, Voodoo Trucker has a theme. The unsavory band of cuthroats have stowed away on a tramp steamer leaving the tiki-zulu death masks on the dark continent behind for the swamps and the endless highways of route 666. Voodoo Trucker can be summed up as Night of the Living Dead meets “Convoy”. If you are already a Deadbolt fan, expect more of the dry, (parched) sense of humor. Billy’s Dead is reminincent of “Hank Watson Stalks the Earth”. And as if to prove that they are in fact the laziest band on earth, they even recycle music wholesale from an earlier release, changing the voiceover only. “Whereabouts Unknown” is a perfect recreation of the late 50’s and 60’s era infotainment shorts sometimes used as trailers in movie theaters and time fillers on tv networks. In the tradtion of “BBlah blah ” the clown, VT introduces a new reoccurring character in the Deadbolt Universe, known as the Mocker. “The Mocker” lurks in the obscure channels of CB radios waiting to repeat everything an unsuspecting rig wrangler like Pee Wee Herman’s older chainsmoking stepbrother. Voodoo Trucker ranks among some of the better Deadbolt albums, but it’s not quite as good as a Tiki Man. The difference is that a lot of these songs are sort of passive listeners, with the music serving as a backdrop for misccelaneous CB chatter. It’s still funny, but it’s not exactly the kind of thing you can sing along to. It may not grab your attention, and you’ll miss out on some of the clever subtleties if you aren’t really giving it your full attention. Voodoo Trucker has 100% of your USRDA of sarcastic homophobia, hatred of hippies, bad jokes, and double extra lazy surf riffs. An interesting side, the semi permanant line up still includes Harley Davidson, Clay Moore Mines. The crowd favorite Les Vegas is listed on the album, but was missing from a recent live show in Portland Or. I’ve seen about 5 or 6 Deadbolt shows, most of them in the Midwest, and all featuring Les Vegas except the last. While they’ve had a revolving cast of extras on stage, as the average age of the band decreases, the stage presence suffers. With the exception of Clay Moore Mines, the kids can’t pull it off. When the audience asked where Les was, the band slagged him off less than graciously. The repalcement drummer was a little to cocky for a guy who basically lifted Les’ schtick verbatim, and poorly at that. Hopefully Les was just AWOL for a short bit.

Online Action: Deadbolt online – www.downinthelab.com
Snail Mail: Deadbolt c/o Headhunter Music 4901-906 Morena Blvd San Diego, CA 92117-3432

Snail Mail: Cargo Music 4901-906 Morena Blvd. San Diego Ca 92117-3432