Carrie publicity pic ISMO FEATURE

CARRIE - PERVERTS OF POP

REVIEW: Carrie "Fear of Sound" (Island 8069/524 510-2) ****

Rumours were rife last week, after a UK Teletext article that Island are about to drop this group, as part of a general downsizing of the British record industry.If this is true, Island will be acting like prize twats as this is an excellent band.
The first track on this album, 'Molly', is the finest song that I have ever come across for single handed excercise. This excerpt will illustrate what I mean:

"She makes me lick her feet/If they're not squeaky clean/
she hits me again/Molly hits like a man."

Carrie CD cover
For a self-confessed foot fetishist and sub-pervert these lyrics are heaven. It's hard to imagine the pussies at Radio One playing it, don't you agree? An absolute must.

Siggsworthy Crags.


THE PRESS RELEASE

Taking their name from Brian De Palmas` seminal 70`s horror film (with Sissy Spacek as the eponymous anti-heroine), Carrie splash down somewhere between `Jane's Addiction` and the `Beach Boys` with songs that are more Hunter S. Thompson than Stephen King.

*** Editor`s note: Fine by us, because the good Doctor is cool, and Stephen King is shite

They have already earned ecstatic reviews, a growing number of fans, fond of their warped lyrics and dark-edged pop anthems, and unleashed one major chart monster in the shape of "Molly" - a twisted tale of domination rapidly becoming a 'Loll' for the '90s.

Formed just over a year aso, the group came together from all four corners of the earth when Connecticut-born singer, guitarist and main songwriter Steve Ludwin and Australian drummer Bruce Pawsey , began recording with ex-EMF bassist Zac Foley. The quartet was recently completed by Guitarist, Dennis Dicker.

Carrie entice you into their unsavoury world view with melodies that melt in the mouth compressed into an intense, three minute shock:

"A lot of bands are influenced by the Beach Boys, but we're more schizophrenic and erratic," says Ludwin. "If one song can sound like Simon & Garfunkel and the next like Black flag, that's great."

Fuelled by Ludwin's perverse imagination, Carrie take sweet harmonies and Brill Building-catchiness, throw them in an industrial vat with off-kilter lyrics, then fuck it all up with fuzz pedals. "California screaming"' is the sound of white trash dreaming as played by a surfed-up REM; "Molly" is a power-pop Gem; "Breath Underwater" a demented opium vision brought to life on crazy guitars; "Sugar Fan" a paean to substance abuse, buzzing with distortion. In short, Carrie`s altered-state pop is just on the right side of insanity.

"We're trying to pervert youth without being like Marilyn Manson," promises Steve. "I really identify with Carrie (the movie) and that's how we feel as a band. We're picked on but we're going to have this power and mash things up some day."

The group began their tack by spending last summer recording their debut album (released on 5th October) with producer Ted "That'll Do" Nicely (Girls Against Boys; Fugazi).