Made for Lovers
released 2010 - Red Shirt Records
Chop Suzy is a rock power trio from the Southern California area. The band is made up of Beau Girardeau (vocals, guitars, and keys), Tony Turbo (drums, percussion) and Manual Automatic (bass). You gotta love the names! A perfect fit for the positions in the band. One look at the cover of their first full length album lets you know they don’t take themselves too seriously but the music is another matter entirely.
Made For Lovers is full of high energy rockers that come at you like a runaway locomotive barreling on down the line to reach their final destination.
Right from the start I heard influences of The Ramones mainly and several other bands of that ilk. Mostly it reminded me of the 70’s bands that played in NYC at Max’s Kansas City or CBGB’s. Its punk meets rock and the trio pounds out the rhythms while the guitarist slashes away while adding some better than average vocals that you can actually understand. I really appreciate that factor and always will. The lyrics are not cerebral by any means they are right for the type of music they deliver throughout this album. That is only the first three tracks though.
A surprise comes along with a hellfire rocker in “Goodbye”. It starts off like a ballad but they do not disappoint as in a short period of time they cut loose again only to revert back to a slower pace, then into a full blown jam session, showing off their excellent musicianship. This type of track I could appreciate because it showed some versatility and talent beyond everything you previously heard. Just when I started to think there was not going to be any changing up of style and approach they let me have it full force pulling out all the stops. It turns into one of the most outstanding tracks on the album. I loved the progression of the track and the musicality is superb.
Then a shift to the blues starts with “Take A Bow” offering up some driving harp and it continues on another level with “Walk Away”. You get some fine acoustic guitar, honky tonk piano and nasty slide guitar on that number. But wait, it gets better on “Waiting to Inhale”. Girardeau lets his hair down with some outstanding electrified rapid fire slide guitar. It reminded me of some of the licks Jimmy Page was playing on Led Zeppelin’s masterpiece Physical Graffiti. This guy is no Page but he is damn good and I could hear that influence there. I love the way they end the album with a grand finale type of tune complete with all the crazy guitar effects, rolling drums, feedback, the works, like it’s the end of the fireworks display at a 4th of July celebration.
The band notes that this album was many years in the making so it looks like it was worth it to spend the time to get it all right. They define the old saying “You can’t judge a book by its cover”. There is a lot to this trio and they make a lot noise, good noise.
Chop Suzy is a band you want to check out if you like to rock and crave some variety within that realm. Once you get past the bizarre cover and give Made For Lovers a spin you will notice how each track gets better as this album plays through.
- Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck-MuzikReviews.com Founder, December, 2010
Heavy. In their music, there’s hints of The Doors, eighties blues metal, and many other influences that converge into a gumbo of well written songs that rock. Some of the song titles have a touch of irony and twisted humor that makes one WANT to listen. The songs, themselves, grab you and pull you into a world that keeps your attention on what’s being sung.
The lead singer, who also plays guitars and keyboards, goes from one vocal style that reminds you of the original lead singer of Accept to the style that brings forth images of Jim Morrison and then goes to a place somewhere beyond. The music comes together seamlessly to form a very uniform and solid collection showcasing Chop Suzy’s wide range and complete versatility.
It’s almost as if they took everything good from the seventies and eighties and wrapped it up into one single style that speaks for its self. I’ll definitely be keeping my eye on these guys and waiting for their next release. I would love to see these guys live…and I am not one who is big into going to concerts.
- Jason Peterman-Radio Pirate Reviews, March, 2011
