The drummer behind the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Chad Smith, Jeff Kollman (guitar), Ed Roth (Keyboards) and Kevin Chown (bass) all come together to form Chad’s Bombastic Meatbats.

Their sound is unlike anything around at the moment, it’s a mix of cutting edge sonic which is fused with that of classic rock, old school funk, punk and seventies R&B.

Meet The Meatbats is their debut album, which was, recorded live in the studio "…Nothing feels as good as a record cut with four guys recording live together and listening and playing off of each other," comments Ed Roth.

This album opens with ‘Need Strange’, which has a cool vibe and beat. It’s lively and has a good melody. The use of the guitar and keyboards is funky and gives that '70s sound.

‘The Battle For Ventura Blvd’ is more edgy yet at times I feel this could be used in a hotel lobby as the background music. Not a good sound!

‘Oh! I Spilled My Beer’ has a '70s soul feel to it, it’s chilled and funky. I love the melody on the guitar; it’s a catchy little tune. This certainly takes you down the psychedelic era.

‘Tops Off’ is much more down beat and sophisticated, again the melody, played on the guitar, is catchy whilst smooth. This is a tune to chill too.

The opening twang of the guitar on ‘Death Match’ gives this a cheeky feel. The rest of the track follows suit and you get a slow mischievous sounding track that is until 3 minutes in when this song takes a whole different route. Suddenly upbeat and overrun by the rock guitar this tune turns on its head. It started off sounding cheeky and it certainly ended that way!

‘Night Sweats’ has a very slow opening with the guitar and piano. This is a much slower tune with a dark edgy feel to it. It’s very soulful and the piano adds a feel of jazz about it.

‘Pig Feet’ is not dissimilar to the other tracks on this album. It feels a little samey to me, which is a shame. It’s all about the guitar and the twangy sound of the song.

At last, it’s nice to hear a different sound and softer guitar in the opening of ‘Lola’. It’s a lot smoother in rhythm and style and gives this song a feel of delicacy that I think has been needed throughout this album.

‘Bread Balls’ takes us back to the harsh twang of the guitar which gives these songs an almost Country and Western feel about them and as the album goes on I realise the less I like the sound.

The last track is ‘Into The Floyd’ which is soft and gentle to wind down from the rest of the, at times, high wired songs. It’s a nice note to end on and leaves you feeling refreshed.

There is also a bonus track ‘Status / Spectrum’ to round off with. This has a little of everything from drums to guitar, to bass, to funk and the list goes on. Nice bonus track though.

I have to say I am split on this album. Parts of it I love and think are cool, funky and jazzy. Then the other part of me feels it’s too repetitive and something that would be used as background music in a hotel lobby.

6

Helena Rea