The Glasspack – The Fuzz & March of the Chrome Police

My first exposure to The Glasspack came through the brilliant Sucking the 70’s and Sucking the 70's – Back in the Saddle Again compilations which saw Stoner, Doom and Psych groups covering songs from, you guessed it, the 1970s. The Glasspack’s contributions were AC/DC’s ‘Rock 'n' Roll Singer’ and The Stooges ‘T.V. Eye’, strong indicators of where they lie sonically.

Formed in Louisville, Kentucky in 1999 the band’s mainstay throughout their history has been ‘Dirty’ Dave Johnson who has guided them through numerous EP’s, full-lengths and split releases. These are simply too numerous to list here but what can be said and which won’t take up too many precious column inches, is that they have played with some pretty prominent and diverse artists such as My Own Victim, The Frogs and Melt Banana, their music has also featured on TV shows such as Sons of Anarchy and Viva La Bam. They have been quieter in recent years focusing on other projects and interests, therefore The Fuzz and March of the Chrome Police marks their first new music in quite a while. I’m stoked to see them active again and this will prove exciting listening I’m sure.

‘The Fuzz’ is the first of the two singles that have been put out so far and saw the light of day back in January. The track according to its Bandcamp page is ‘dedicated to all the protesters of 2020 in Louisville regarding the injustice served upon Breonna Taylor’, while the line-up here consists of Dave - Vocals, Nick – Guitars, Andy - Bass and Dale on Drums. The music is in a similar ballpark to Fu Manchu and Nebula, Fuzz laden yet packing a punky punch and while the artwork features a marijuana leaf, its a far cry from the tripped out likes of Sleep and Bongzilla. The Garage Rock spirit of the aforementioned Stooges is present, but also it’s worth mentioning fellow Detroit rockers The MC5 too. It races by and you’ll need to listen to it several times so as to fully digest it, not that I’m complaining. A majestic comeback!

The other song is a cover of Chrome’s ‘March of the Chrome Police’, which originally featured on 1979’sHalf Machine Lip Moves. In fact that band’s Helios Creed makes a guest appearance as does Rick Sims ofDidjits and Dale who provides extra Hi-Hat. Obviously Chrome has its roots in the Post-Punk and Industrial scenes and its nice therefore to see The Glasspack perform something which could be considered outside their comfort zone. The track is given something of a Hard Rock/Rock ‘n’ Roll makeover yet never fully loses its essence, something that is quite tricky to achieve. Interestingly the band were going to at one stage put out a 45 minute track album titled Moon Patrol back in 2014 but this got shelved so maybe this cover on reflection isn’t as unlikely as first thought earlier in the review? Whatever the truth, its a solid interpretation and its good to see Helios performing again, especially after some of the life setbacks he’s suffered in recent years. The track is available exclusively on BandCamp and along with ‘The Fuzz’ is well worth picking up, especially at a mere dollar each. What the hell are you waiting for?

Two fantastic tracks and I’m hopeful we’ll be hearing a lot more from The Glasspack in terms of musical output; and if they can squeeze in a little tour along the way (especially Manchester, UK, hint hint) then so much the better, welcome back lads!