Tongue Action – Tongue Action (Heavy Medication)
Not enough sleaze-punk-glam bands in your sad social media feed? Streaming’s algorithms not doing it for you any more? Rock Action is wherever you find it and Tongue Action can be one more solution to your problem.
Tongue Action come from Colorado and members have been in bands like Killer Hearts and Electric Frankenstein. They play a blend of hard-edged sleaze rock with sprinklings of glam and metal. Alkthough they have other tracks available online via their Bandcamp, this is their debut album and it rocks regally.
Eight songs only (to suit the vinyl format) and there’s a lot to like. Vocalist-guitarist Pablo Ono leads from the front with lead guitarist JW Manning adding the excess/finesse. The engine room of drummer Jody Stallone and bassist Eric West drives hard and swings.
There’s a fluidity to the line-up and the songs were recorded at three different studios (including Sugarhill in Texas, previously graced by the likes of Roy Head and Australia’s Hitmen DTK and Deniz Tek.) There’s occasional additional instrumentation; Demomboy adds occasional subtle keyboard stylings. Two cuts feature Ralph Armin’s sax.
Whatdya get for your hard-earned? “Oh. Beast!” brings a generous serve of ranchy glam to the pasrty. “Kill City Riot” isn’t subtle but it is effective. “Wild Nights/Wild Rose” hangs off an open chord progression and nods to Ian Hunter.
“WTFDIK” sounds like a Turbonegro cop from the latter-day Ramones that Tongue Action is gifting back to both of them after putting it through their own food precessor, but then again (as its title suggests) What The Fuck Do I Know.
“Raunch City Romp” crosses into T-Rex platform boot stomping with full-bore sax and grinding guitar action as it stumbles across a pathc of sticky carpet, wearing skin tight jeans and a half-cut grin. Get the idea?
“Tongue Action” doesn’t require over analysis or deep introspection. It just rocks.
