jaed_dirtydays music reviews Virgin Media
Jaed. Goody! Another punk rock outfit from Australia. Lead singer Vanessa Eve has had a pretty hard life and is dealing with her demons - drug addiction, being forced onto the street by an abusive father at the age of 16 - as so many people do, by making fast, aggressive, guitar music. The subject matter is as gritty as you'd expect - My Way, for example, opens with an unflinching description of pretty awful-sounding drug-fuelled sexual contact, the lyrics nailed to the kind of power rock popular with American high school students who like a lot of eyeliner.
Sadly, the music's not much cop. It's not bad - the melodies are sometimes a little samey and while the debt to L7, Vercua Salt and The Pixies is worn proudly there's possibly also a little too much of the kind of simple, hard-played dynamics of The Sex Pistols. It has its moments, alright - Someday is a bit of a belter - but there's too much on here which brings it back down again, the try-too-hard-to-offend caterwauling of Kiss Me (Mickey) being a key case in point. Admirable intentions and all, but sadly the finished product comes across as being a bit like what Auf Der Maur would sound like if they weren't any good.
