Rodeos, at least in this country, aren’t perceived as sport nowadays. If the term is used at all in New Zealand it usually refers to a metaphor for an intense struggle to survive or to conquer the unconquerable, if but for fleeting moment. Riding a bucking bull is an intense, short lived experience and as John Fogerty famously said, “life is just a rodeo, the trick is to ride and make it to the bell."

Voodoo Bloo’s third album Dead-end Rodeo looks fun and colourful on the packaging (thanks to Karissa Trainor’s whimsical artwork of cowboys, deep sea divers and squids), but sounds just a tad resentful with its title referencing an unpopular activity, (especially the kind that one cannot leave by choice, i.e.: ‘dead end’.) As with other albums by Voodoo Bloo, vitality and the brevity of youth become both the primary theme and a fearful concern for the band’s primary songwriter, Rory McDonald. Unlike the sprightly exuberance of their debut, Jacobus, this album connects to their last album, The Blessed Ghost, in terms of the preoccupation with the briefness of adolescence and, by extension, mortality. But while The Blessed Ghost was still raucous at times, it featured a restrained and repressed nature that matched the brutalist architecture on the cover and the limited colour palette. Here, on Dead-end Rodeo, these anxieties remain as fundamental lyrical inspirations, only now the band is instead overly expressive, colourful, experimental, strange, brutal and at moments beautiful. It’s almost as if the response to realising one’s own mortality has gone through a shift of perception; from cool realisation and denial to acceptance and an odd (morbid?) kind of celebration. Above all, they are, now more than ever, completely unpredictable.

Take for instance the first track, We Couldn’t Afford Sinatra, a title which directly relates to the RnB sample that begins the album of what sounds like a remixed Steve Winwood’s Higher Love. It’s odd. It’s perfect. It’s unexpected. Especially for the contrasting intensity which follows, featuring a searing start/stop rhythm that would be shocking to newcomers to the band. “Dick! Sit! Down! Your birthday is today!” Rory shouts, bringing the listener right back into the primary theme of age and time. The drums are frantic and complex, the guitars fittingly heavily affected. The voice is affected also with what sounds like a light distortion and a slap back echo that allows the vocals to be heard amongst the various flamboyant and animated instruments vying for attention, but it’s a vocal sound that is utilized on the loudest songs and one that might irritate some listeners.

Second track and first single, Hot Garbage, starts with a sleek bass line that defines and keeps the band together as Rory rambles over the verse with rhetorical, self-directed questions such as: “Having a hard time fitting into the clothes you once wore?” before the chorus erupts into chants of “I’m gonna fix myself again”. The song also includes a stunning drum break from drummer and producer of the record, Jackson Kidd.

Third track Ambassador is poppy and features some fairly unusual melodies that are reminiscent of some 80’s bands such as Duran Duran or Depeche Mode. This song sounds most similar to tracks from The Blessed Ghost with its less reckless riffs and song structure, but the note choice is so unexpected in most parts it comes off as quirky and highly original. The lyrics here hint at both youth and the music business and the struggle to remain a gigging band in a competitive market in a youth orientated industry: “It's the best time of our lives, We're going live, Tonight, Falling down, If you wanna hurt no more, Here's the door”.

Cardboard Box Office, another single released before the album, opens with a catchy, funky bass line played by newest member Harrison Yates, and is supported by up-tempo drums. This intro brings to mind another quirky 80’s band, but this time a New Zealand one: Split Enz. This track is my personal favourite and has some rather intense lyrics that appear to be critical of the Hollywood film industry but could also be inspired by a movie watching session. It also features the albums’ wildest, most possessed noise solo from guitarist Daniel Maslen on the album.

After the hook laden singles, the band plays La Belle, by far the heaviest and most intense song on the album. It’s about as close to modern metal as any band that is not explicitly labelled as such has any business in being. It’s short, though, with nearly thirty seconds of squealing noise and laughter at the end.

You Were Never Here starts with a beautiful ethereal melody that establishes a wonderful atmosphere. While the band plays intricate patterns, Rory tells a tale of loss and, perhaps, regret at the inability to say goodbye properly: “Take a look, the bridge you walked across, As if you were never here, Your room is just so empty now, Filled up with all your clothes … Gotta find something, That shows you were living, The photographs, And all the audio bites, Mean nothing, When the caskets buried and closed”.

Strangest song award goes to Mystery Flesh Pit National Park, which also recalls a few 80’s acts at the beginning, but the introduction quickly gives way to an intense, staccato riff the band perform as one, then a punky verse followed by a pop chorus. It’s one of the most interesting songs on the record musically, and the lyrics don’t disappoint either with their odd epiphanic realizations: “But then he made a great point, That I never would see Beethoven live, All the people around you die sometime, Now I know that not everyone is great, You're just one person less that I hate”.

A Good Day is the kind of song you don’t forget seeing performed live. I hope it was at least considered for a potential fourth single, as it contains everything you want out of a Voodoo Bloo song: schizophrenic lyrics a crowd can sing-along to? Check. Intense tempo and dynamic changes? Check. Sinister riffs and unusual song structure building to an intense climax that explodes in random noises? Yes I think it’s got plenty of that. “It’s gonna be a good day!” Rory screams, either in an attempt to manifest it, convince the audience or trick himself. Or all three.

Wingboy is like a dessert at the end of the meal. It’s worth waiting for but by the end of it you may well be close to being fatigued with consumption. The instruments here are as smooth as ice cream, all glossy bass and shimmering guitars, but the voice is distorted to the point of digital clipping, so I guess that’s shards of toffee on the top! Ouch. Still, the lyrics are thought provoking and still connect to mortality: “…my embrace, It will go away with, Everything in time, We're only getting older, Wake up it's starting, Our only life is here”.

Closing track I Don’t Want This Scene To End is the latest single to be released and was written for departing bassist Ollie Cass. The song closely resembles Bruce Springsteen’s I’m On Fire, but I’m genuinely unsure if it is accidental or a homage, but it’s the kind of thing that probably happens to a young band that play complex, unorthodox riffs with atypical melodies; then they try their hand at simplicity. Still, it is a touching and catchy song that perfectly ends the album with a heartfelt, if honestly awkward, goodbye: “Send me a card, We love you so, There's always room, For you in this garage, Hope I don't sound rude, I'm just bad at goodbyes … Bye”.

This album is simultaneously wide ranging in its sound, but also so totally indicative of the distinctive style they have already established. If anything, the band here expands their repertoire to include funk and metal, while before they have primarily remained in punky territory, (admittedly the heavier, noisier variety). There are catchy moments, intense unexpected turns, and provocative, revealing lyrics about mental health issues. The band is recorded brilliantly in many ways, (the rhythm section is clear and suave), and other ways where innovation and unconventional approaches have paid off (the raw guitars and the vocals). Mixing this record was done by Scott Seabright, and his job was obviously not an easy one.

Regardless of the method, the band itself presents itself as a raw and unfiltered energy source to be caught like lightning in a bottle, at times threatening to break the glass. Here, I am reminded once again of the album’s title, as if the animal they are attempting to ride is their own lively vigour – dangerous and unpredictable, but also thrilling.

Here, on this record, the band succeeds in making it to the bell.

• 1
  Head Like A Hole
• 2
  Horror Story
• 3
  Fraser Ross
• 4
  Fur Patrol
• 5
  Michelle Rounds
• 6
  L.A.B.
• 7
  Devilskin
• 8
  Coridian
• 9
  The Boondocks
• 10
  Late to Chelsea

• 
  LOST BiRD @ Space Academy, Christchurch - 15/12/2024
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  Just Janie @ Space Academy, Christchurch - 15/12/2024
• 
  Dream Chambers @ Meow Nui, Wellington - 14/12/2024
• 
  The Phoenix Foundation @ Meow Nui, Wellington - 14/12/2024

• 1
  APT.
  ROSÉ And Bruno Mars
• 2
  DIE WITH A SMILE
  Lady Gaga And Bruno Mars
• 3
  BIRDS OF A FEATHER
  Billie Eilish
• 4
  TASTE
  Sabrina Carpenter
• 5
  I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY
  Gracie Abrams
• 6
  ESPRESSO
  Sabrina Carpenter
• 7
  SAILOR SONG
  Gigi Perez
• 8
  LOSE CONTROL
  Teddy Swims
• 9
  A BAR SONG (TIPSY)
  Shaboozey
• 10
  GOOD LUCK, BABE!
  Chappell Roan

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