OK, I grant you THE SEATSNIFFERS is a silly name, but it's one you need to get over, because -at their best - the contents of their seventh album 'Turbulence' rock like an utter bastard.
A little history first. The Seatsniffers comprise guitarist/ vocalist Walter Broes, drummer Pete De Houwer, sax maniac Roel Jacobs and returning bassist Bop De Houwer. They hail from Belgium (which probably accounts for them being a relatively unknown quantity this side of the channel thus far) and release records relentlessly, which accounts for the fact they've got to album number seven before this reviewer's finally caught them in his web.
The best bits of 'Turbulence' suggest this is more than overdue, too. Plugging directly into the swaggering, testifyin' party rock sound rolled out by kindred spirits such as Gene Vincent, The Dirtbombs, The Blasters and Morphine, Broes and his sharply-attired cronies clearly know a thing or three about driving an audience into raptures with their mutant punk-hard country-rock'n'roll sound. And, especially during the rugged first half of 'Turbulence', they are unstoppable.
The stompin', sax-addled Biblical epic 'Git'r Done' piledrives in like the walls of Jericho topplin' and is even cheeky enough to nick the guitar figure from the Dead Kennedys' 'Let's Lynch The Landlord' before it staggers out the back door. It's a great start, and aided and abetted admirably by the tight'n'louche Blue Caps-style sound of tunes like 'She's Mine' and 'Baby Come To Papa', the libidinous swagger of 'I'd Wait All Over' and - best of all - the echo-laden thrust of their formidable version of Alex Chilton's 'Bangkok'. The original was diseased and menacing enough, but The 'Sniffers' re-moulding lurches around like the dregs of the aftershow party from hell, staggering through the red light district with a purloined Gretsch in one hand, a whiskey bottle stuffed in its' pocket and a needle sticking out of its' arm. Yeah, that good.
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After this vicarious excitement, the second half can't quite keep up the excess-sodden pace, but it's still pretty damn thrilling. I can personally do without the irritating, redneck-athon r'n'b of 'Boat', but there are spills aplenty to be had courtesy of '(You Need A) Check Up From The Neck Up"s sarky demolition job, the itchy Albert Lee guitar burn-ups of the closing 'Thing' and the spangly country-pop of their Lee Hazelwood cover 'Dark In My Heart', which is both an attractive oasis of calm and surprisingly moving into the bargain.
The Seatsniffers, then, will never win awards for political correctness or pushing the sonic envelope and I suspect couldn't give a flying one for either. However, as authentic flights of gritty rock'n'roll fancies go, their 'Turbulence' provides one hell of a thunderous shake up. Keep your seatbelts fastened folks.
(http://www.myspace.com/theseatsniffers)
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