American Dog – Mean

AMERICAN DOG
MEAN
Released January 10, 2010 (Colonial Canine/Bad Reputation)

Track List:
01. Just One More
02. Cat Has Got You By The Tongue
03. Drivin’ Down The Sidewalk
04. Mean
05. Boozehound
06. Gonna Stop Drinkin’ Tomorrow
07. Mine All Mine
08. This Ain’t The Summer Of Love
09. Sunshine/Moonshine
10. Ain’t Dead Yet
11. Motherfucker

Band:
Michael Hannon – vocals and bass
Steve Theado – guitars and vocals
Keith Pickens – drums

Production:
Produced, engineered, mixed and mastered by Joe Viers.

Review:
Well folks, this is it, the end of American Dog – their swan song if you will. Placing a song entitled “Gonna Stop Drinkin’ Tomorrow” means the end of the band, and its been a hell of a run. After a decade of proclaiming their love for the devil’s juice how can you have ‘blood, guts & beer’ without the beer? Two out of three may have been sufficient for Meat Loaf, but it doesn’t cut it when it comes to shit-kicking hard rock.

  But wait!! Hold the presses! You didn’t think I, and the band, were serious did you? American Dog giving up alcohol is like Gene Simmons losing his appetite for money…it just isn’t going to happen. “I won’t quit drinking tomorrow, I won’t quit drinking today, I’ll be drinking a long long time, I didn’t wanna quit anyway” – see, that song was just the band pulling our legs, proving that they have a great sense of humor and are still sticking to their guns.

  American Dog seems to need the booze too, because Michael Hannon and company come across as nice easy-going guys, yet their music is the polar opposite. Their music is, as the title of their latest CD states, ‘mean’. And this new album is mean right out of the gate as guitarist Steve Theado makes “Just One More” a violently satisfying opener. “Cat Has Got You By The Tongue”, “Mine All Mine” and “Ain’t Dead Yet” take the same hostile formula and smashes it into the side of your head. The band’s cover of Blue Oyster Cult‘s “This Ain’t The Summer Of Love” still kicks all kinds of ass, and they even diversify and drag out the banjos on “Sunshine/Moonshine”.

  If you want a track that has to be played at full volume look no further than “Motherfucker”. You might wonder what the hell is going on during the intro and outro, but squeezed in between is a scorcher. It is the type of song that would shake the bottles right off the bar tables in a live setting. It displays what American Dog has always excelled at, raw unbridled fury.

  American Dog just keeps getting better and better, all the while sticking to the game-plan. If ever a CD lived up to its name this is it…Webster Dictionary may want to place this album cover next to their ‘mean’ entry.

  www.americandog.us – www.myspace.com/americandog – www.badreputation.fr

Reviewed by Skid for Sleaze Roxx, January 2010.

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