Record review: The Boss Martians, "Pressure in the SODO"

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By L. KENT WOLGAMOTT / GZO

4 stars

The Boss Martians play real rock ’n’ roll.

Charging and swaggering through their explosive live shows, the Seattle quartet draws on a garage punk lineage wide enough to include power pop and Iggy Pop, channeling vintage Northwest rockers like The Sonics while hinting at the Kinks and the Faces and having too much fun in the process.

On “Pressure in the SODO” The Boss Martians bring that live intensity to a record.

Knowing what he wanted to hear, singer/songwriter/guitarist Evan Foster produced, then got Jack Endino — yes, the guy who worked with Nirvana — to mix the music, giving it an undeniable in-your-face presence.

As for the songs, well, it’s safe to say that anyone who can hold his own with Iggy Pop is a bona fide rock ’n’ roller, and Foster does just that on “Mars is for Martians.”

 The snarling Stooges-like ditty co-written by Evan and Mr. Osterberg finds Foster and Iggy swapping vocals as they run through a near-gibberish alphabet association — “E for Empty; F is for Future … I is for Islam, J is for Jesus, K is for Kinky.” It’s loud and cocky, funny and propulsive or, more simply, rock ’n’ roll.

Foster knows how to come up with a catchy melody and is a guitar riff master, cutting loose on some solos like an arena rocker, but never becoming dull, a trick in itself. Nick C’s organ gives the music both a classic feel and depth that gives the guitar room to run, and the rhythms of drummer Thomas Caviezel and bassist Scott Myrene are solid and spot-on.

Foster’s also an under-rated lyricist. Want to hear the angst of a breakup? Try “And She’s Gone,” a ballad that starts off with this verse: “It feels like suicide and razor blades/All you want to do is get numb, try to ease the pain/And you haven’t slept for days/You’re torn up no matter what you say.”

Ranging from the swinging ’60s Brit pop  “If You Only Knew,” and the power pop ballad “Elsie” to the driving “Stiletto (Need Some Action),” “Pressure in the SODO” breathlessly romps through rock ’n’ roll styles, delivering the backbeat stomp and attitude that make The Boss Martians a don’t-miss band live.

You’ve very likely heard part of one of the songs on “Pressure in the SODO.” The organ-heavy “Hey Hey Yeah Yeah,” with its shoutalong chorus, has been in E-Trade commercials that have been all over television since the Super Bowl. That’s a financial pleasure for Foster and the rest of the Martians.

“Pressure in the SODO” is rock ’n’ roll pleasure for the rest of us.