Spunji

Rock This!

By David Elliott

Everyone knows that cute lil punk rawker kid, right? Maybe YOU are that kid. Maybe that kid is that screaming, crying, laughing toddler in the mall- so cute, watch him bounce & fall down! Maybe it's your little sister (or brother) with "cool" colored hair, bobbles & bangles on the wrist, and pogoing slam-dancing/moshing their teenage kicks away. Well if it's down to Alabama's Spunji, it's all of this on their debut CD, Rock This! And it pretty much stops there.

Spunji takes So-Cal punk rock, via the Go-Go's meets Rancid, squealing, as only punk rawk girls can do (to the point of annoyance), over churning guitar, bass & drums about "The Life," ("we're running but falling/ I can't go on"), "The Chance," and "The Fall." You won't confuse Spunji's earnest drive and zeal for, say, the faux punk of Avril or New Found Glory. But, like the previous two, along with just about every other punk-popster (shout out to Switchfoot!), the differences don't amount to a whole lot.

The band, led by guitarist/vocalist Judi Poison (now that's punk, dude!), her sister bassist/backing vocalist Mary Vegas, along with drummer Ernie crank it out & up with glee. More melodious than the Donnas, but not above the some of the same cliched schtick of that outfit, Spunji equate "punk" with style and not much with substance. Whereas the Ramones wrote about hooking and heroin ("53rd & 3rd"), and slyly gibbed middle-class America ("Beat on the Brat"), the Clash railed political outrage, Television pushed musical boundries, Spunji is content to kiss off a heart-breaking loser ("I Hate You") over cute-as-pie mall punk; And while the Runaways, the Slits, and Patti Smith confronted commerical images of women, Spunji are only too happy to show their blonde hair, chain necklaces, and sweet smiles- hell the Go-Go's displayed more cynicism beneath their cute smiles.

If you want your punk rawk, fast, fun, lite, cute and sweet, Spunji is just right. And while there's no harm in that, it runs out of fuel pretty quickly. The band has the amps cranked just right, the beat down, glam guitars buzzing, converse tennis shoes laced up, all the while squealing "rock this dudez!" While Spunji is cute and has it's cheerleader punk glee, it just devolves into one long fucking jr high school dance. Now what was that totally rad Nirvana video where they, like, do the song during a pep rally?