Blonde Revolver

Reviews

Blonde Revolver Good Girls Go to Heaven, Bad Girls Go Everywhere LP

If the title of the debut LP from this six-piece, all-female ensemble of Melbourne punkers doesn’t draw you in, then simply hit play. With members coming from BODY MAINTENANCE, CARPET BURN, DELIVERY, FUTURE SUCK, and GUTTER GIRLS, this lot is churning out some snotty, synth-drenched, Aussie-signature tracks that truly make you want to move. The album opens with the theme from Buffy and goes into a song about vampires (“Raise the Stakes”), they lean into their leather and fishnet aesthetic on “Lipstick and Leather,” and in “DOC NRG,” which is my favorite track, shouting the chorus “We’ve got big DOC N-R-G.” Late ’70s rock’n’roll irreverence in a modern, doom-driven context that finds a way to laugh the whole way through. I think of an all-female SICK THOUGHTS, and fans of JUDY AND THE JERKS would definitely enjoy this. Dirty and grimy sounds covered up in bright makeup—what’s not to like?

Blonde Revolver Red Ruby EP

What we have here is the debut release from new Melbourne label Rack Off, who are looking to shed light on female-identifying and gender-diverse acts, and the debut EP from BLONDE REVOLVER, a new Melbourne six-piece with members from FUTURE SUCK, DELIVERY, and GUTTER GIRLS (among others). They apparently started as a BLONDIE cover band but now play plainspoken, fairly straightforward Aussie punk with a bit of a post-punk edge courtesy of an ever present synth that provides a sinister undercurrent—it sounds like a mix of AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS and the LOST SOUNDS. The five originals here are solid enough, and they do a really cool cover of the URINALS’ “I’m a Bug,” kinda turning it into a GARY NUMAN track. But the highlight of the record (and maybe my favorite moment from any release in 2021) is the little “waaa” that the singer yelps to punctuate the (pretty great) line “I’m an alpha baby, and you’re a beta bitch” on “Pocket Rocket”. Fuck—it’s good!