Audio By Carbonatix
When they’re not busy logging miles as Nomeansno, an exceptional Victoria, Canada-based prog-punk outfit, founding members Rob and John Wright pound out simple, Ramones-style hockey anthems as their dim-witted alter ego, the Hanson Brothers. Inspired by the knuckle-dragging trio from 1977’s Slap Shot (a classic sports satire in which a bankrupt minor-league team resorts to goonery in order to build up attendance), the Wrights and two other middle-aged Canadians celebrate slashing, face-offs and the occasional odd-man rush — not to mention the cartoonish applications of three-chord guitar crunch. With sporty team uniforms and a crude musical wit, this fraternal order manages to transcend one-off joke-band status (despite indulging in rhymes like “Zamboni”/”spumoni”) and pay tribute to the glue-sniffing glory of the late Joey and Dee Dee with honor and distinction. With a voice more scarred than a penalty-box door, frontman Johnny Hanson leads his fellow rink rats through a spirited donnybrook in which heavy metal and bubblegum muck and grind like it’s ten-cent-beer night. The Hansons, now on tour in support of My Game, its latest release on Mint Records, will join Hemi Cuda on Tuesday, December 2, at the 15th Street Tavern for a tooth-shattering evening of urban surf and blitzkrieg hops. The gloves are off!
