- Label: 'Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records/Silly Moo'
- Genre: 'Indie'
- Release Date: '8.8.25.'- Catalogue No: 'HHBTM235/SM0013'
Our Rating:
This is the 30th Anniversary re-issue of Bunnygrunt's debut album Action Pants! That has restored the songs that originally got dropped due to line up changes. I wrote this review before reading Matt Harnish's A Young Person's guide to Action Pants that is included with the viny re-issue. Bunnygrunt were Karen Reid, Matt Harnish, Danger Renee Dullum with Dave Baron Vin Trumfio who recorded at Kingsize Sound Lab, Chicago and was produced by Richard Baluyut.
The A-side opens with the jangled intensity of Superstar 666 that has them claiming I'm a Superstar in ways that makes it seem like it is an easily achievable goal.
Transportation Pants of the sort a long-distance lorry driver might wear, if he can't stop for hours on end, the heavily strummed guitars and busy yet basic drumming, give this a charming low fi edge.
Eggy Greggy is one of the lost songs an odd tribute to a friend, who really has a thing about eggs, it starts off as sweet jangle pop classic before the guitars go far heavier, with a distorted edge of intensity for the rock and roll man that Eggy Greggy thinks he is.
I Am Curious Partridge isn't about Alan as far as I can tell, this is awe of someone they want to be, just like a hero born in 1970 rather than 1973, who may want to become more like Andy Partridge, the dates flow by and the heavily strummed acoustic guitars have odd noises beneath them totally at odds with David Cassidy or other members of The Family.
Just Like Summertime is looking for a time and place where you can chase after rare k Records singles on a beach in the Summertime, the organ does some interesting things here.
Maude is the kind of girl they all want to hang out with, on this super brief tribute to her wonderment, even as she pushes you down the stairs the minx. Maude (A Slight Return) reworks You Keep Me Hanging On into a sideways tribute to Maude and the Lou reed live versions of that monument.
G.I. 2k is a loud quiet tune with burst of super intense noise to punctuate the vocals on the soft parts, this distorts your brain with super nasty mauled guitars.
The B-side opens with Criminal Boy that almost sounds like Heavenly on this semi-sweet indie pop love song, for one of those perpetual bad boys the girls seem to love so much, they beg for you not to bang up their brother, he ain't that bad, and their dad will come to save the day.
Tadpole would easily work back to back with L7's Bite The Wax Tadpole, even if this is sweeter but within places nastier guitars, he claims he doesn't want to stay here, he needs to get away from everything going down.
Inanimate Objects are always on their minds they are lusting after another cute girl they just want to spend time with, no matter what a wallflower she might be, you might be left with the title going round your head for a good while after hearing this, in all its clattering shambolic majesty.
The album closes with Open Up And Say Oblina which twists the Stooges blood spattered Open Up And Bleed into something altogether more disturbing, whatever happened to Oblina to deserve this as a tribute, listen and try to figure it out, this song came out 4 years before Oblina first appeared on Aaah! Real Monsters, what did they know, this has a long repeating riffed outro for Oblina to mince away too. Until it sounds like the tape heads have disintegrated and the tape is stuck in an odd loop to end the album.
Find out more at https://www.hhbtm.com/product/bunnygrunt-action-pants-30/ https://hhbtm.bandcamp.com/album/action-pants-30th-anniversary-edition https://www.facebook.com/p/Silly-Moo-Records-100071032705074/ https://jigsaw-records.com/products/bunnygrunt-action-pants-thirtieth-anniversary-directors-cut-cd https://www.facebook.com/therealbunnygrunt
