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25 Suaves "I Want It Loud" CD So this group consists of Peter S. Larson (Velocity Hopkins) and Fumie Kawasaki (DJ Party Girl -- with an alias like that I feel like I'm supposed to know who that is, but alas, I don't) and one of the multitude of ex-Melvins guys, Dave Sahijdak. Despite their experimental pedigree, they play fire-breathing, blockheaded, metal that is worthy listening for a Z28-load of pot-smoking, Busch-light-drinking, trailer-dwelling degenerates on a methamphetamine run in Judas Priest t-shirts. The thing here is that the music is sounds like deadly serious metal. The album brings to mind the previously-mentioned Priest, or Motorhead most of all (an overused comparison if there ever was one, but this band is playing something a little more authentic than just a bunch of jackasses playing really fast). There's nothing The lyrics are pretty funny, stuff about "wanting it loud" or "letting it burn" "living it up" or "taking it down." The liner notes, handwritten in all caps, proudly proclaims the band's preferred guitars, strings, amps, drums, and thanks, is spelled "THANX" throughout. This is sounding, and looking, pretty authentic. Listen while you play: Legend of Valkyrie from Odyssey Zine

Artist: 25 Suaves Album: I Want it Loud Heavy Metal duo 25 Suaves have expanded to a trio. Pete Larsen and Fumie Kawasaki (on guitar and drums, respectively) are joined by Dave Sahijdak (who once played in the Melvins, among other groups) on bass. Now operating as a classic power trio, the Suaves must have decided to just fully embrace anachronism and achieve the most reverent and faithful re-creation of 80’s speed metal production possible. This sounds exactly like Metallica’s early albums, the effect is almost eerie. Larsen is clearly attempting some sort of Lemmy emulation with his vocal style, but he just doesn’t have the same gruff hoarseness and beautiful abandon, hard as he may try. The bass isn’t very audible in the mix, but it’s really there to thicken up the rhythm. This is the fullest 25 Suaves have ever sounded. The nine songs on “I Want It Loud” don’t really differentiate themselves from each other in any remarkable way. Confronted themes include volume (“turn up the music”), death (“you’re gonna die,” “born dead”) and individuality (“right now,” “all but nothing”); pretty standard heavy metal fare, for sure. The band thanks Metallica, Motorhead, and Slayer in the liner notes (but of course), but not Black Sabbath, only Geezer Butler. Why single out just Geezer? I mean, if you’re gonna thank all those douchebags in Metallica, you may as well thank Bill Ward and, hell, why not Ozzy and Tony, too? Eh, whatever. This is a record for people who really believe in metal, who have lived it and breathed it. This isn’t ironic posing by any means, although the timing may lead some to think otherwise. It’s lack of self-conscious irony may confuse vintage Iron Maiden concert tee wearing hipsters, but I think my uncle Chuck, the first guy I ever knew who smoked grass (and who attended the Monsters of Rock concert, of course) would know exactly where this music was coming from. - Sean Witzman Foxy Digitalis Magazine

25 Suaves I Want It Loud I Want It Loud, 25 Suaves' follow up to the mildly interesting 1938, feels like your older uncle's attempt at relating with the kids. It's a dumbed down rock record from an obviously intelligent three piece. Peter Larson is head of prolific Bulb Records and singer/guitarist for 25 Suaves. Bulb's released records from the mighty Wolf Eyes, Mindflayer and obscure gems like Japan's, Voodoo Boots. Wife and drummer, Fumie Kawasaki, is pretty good at keeping a beat. However, Kawasaki's drumming is drowned out throughout the recording. Newly added ex-Melvins and supposed friend, Dave Sahijdak brings bass to the 25 Suaves sound for the first time, which is kinda cool. Despite an obvious know-how in musicianship from this three-piece I Want It Loud doesn't rock enough and if it's supposed to be tongue in cheek, it's not funny either. Turning shit up, like the first song title suggests, doesn't make I Want It Loud better - in this case it makes it worse. Where Larson's pal Andrew W.K. delivers a humorously valid party 'til you puke vibe, I Want It Loud tries too hard. It's rock anthems for a Kool-Aid party. I hear the Motorhead, I hear the Judas Priest and I hear the Blue Cheer. But, I Want It Loud sounds more like a rip off than a borrowed thank you. What's the point? I would rather listen to above said bands than a watered down version. All these nods to the past just make the listener nod off all together. There are times when a song starts off with a killer guitar hook but, then fails to deliver. Pete should stick to releasing records or just turn plain weird and embrace the insanity of his stage persona when making records. I was expecting so much more from these music scene gurus. --Ryan C. Wesierski KITTY MAGIK Magazine (* ed. note: fuck this dude!)

25 SUAVES I Want It Loud In 2002, 25 Suaves’ 1938 handed out headaches like roses, and imagined a world ruled by hard rock and shuddering treble. The new I Want it Loud ? obviously ? is no different, but guitarist/shouter (and Bulb Records mastermind) Pete Larson and his furiously drumming wife Fumi Kawasaki (aka DJ Party Girl) have added ex-Melvins affiliate Dave Sahijdak on bass guitar, making 25 Suaves’ third full-length even more fearsome than the 14,000-foot amplifier leering with four-cone eyes from the front cover. I Want it Loud’s template is made from mid-’70s mudder-rock classics like Bachman Turner Overdrive’s “Not Fragile.” But shots like “Maybe You’re Right,” “Us Against You” and “Let it Burn” add in the weakling-choking rollick of Motorhead, while “Give it Up” and the cheery “You’re Gonna Die” slide sheets of flinty melody between the thrashing, rust-rock slabs. Larson’s lyrics run toward the emphatic, yet limited ? “My life is making rock from the underground!” ? and the Suaves have few gears beyond “thick” and “stinging.” But I Want it Loud works anyway by relying on old standbys like volume, commitment and a snare drum the size of Greenland. Turn it up, and watch classic rock radio cower behind its Eagles records. Johnny Loftus writes about music for Metro Times. E-mail letters@metrotimes.com.

25 SUAVES I Want It Loud (Bastard Sun) Rating ? 8/10 With a title like that, this damn well better be a rock album, and thankfully it is ? and it rocks. No obvious direct influences here, which is always good for a new band, with bits of punk, hard rock, metal, stoner rock and even a touch of doomy sludge all stirred into nine uncompromising tracks. Perhaps most impressive is that 25 Suaves is a duo at heart, though a bass player is added here to round out the album. Actually, the most impressive thing is the fact that they are from Adrian, Michigan ? I’ve been to that town and the fact that something this good came from there is a bit of a shock. The appropriately titled “Turn Up the Music” kicks things off with lumbering grit, while “Right Now” has a harder, more direct punch. The vocals are rough and ready, like a mix of Lemmy and 80s NYHC, and the guitars have a nice paint-peeling edge to them throughout the album. The playing and production are both far from clean and tidy, but it gives it that MC5 kind of charm that this music needs. AC/DC is invoked a bit at the start of “Give It Up” and the Melvins on the lengthy “Born Dead.” Frenetic energy is in no short supply on “Us Against You” and the grimly catchy “You’re Gonna Die.” If I had to lodge any complaints with 25 Suaves (other than the album art) it would be that a few of the tracks feel a bit bloated in the arrangement department. The band’s style works wonders in the 3-4 minute range but feels just a bit strained when the edge up over six. Still, I think they have created a remarkably original sound here that works and it is refreshing to hear an album that doesn’t cater to any of the thousands of sub-sub-genres out there ? playing kick-ass rock ‘n’ roll is more than enough for 25 Suaves. http://www.25suaves.com [Daniel Hinds] The Plague

25 Suaves - I Want It Loud (Bulb/Bastard Son Records) By Chris LaTray February 17, 2005 2002's 1938 from 25 Suaves was one of that year's highlights for me, so I was eager to hear the new record when guitarist/vocalist Pete Larson contacted me about a review copy. Where 1938 was more of a straight up dirty rock record,I Want It Loud surges from the gate and ups the ante significantly -- this album is a full on, crank-it-to-ten metal album. Not that weepy, tin can bullshit the kids are calling metal these days, oh no. We are talking the kind of metal that Lemmy approves up. Big riffs, loud guitars, and gargling-on-battery-acid vocals. Just what I want to hear when I throw a rock album on, as a matter of fact. Larson is joined once again by wife Fumie Kawasaki on drums, and this outing has seen the addition of bassist Dave Sahijdak. The production is raw and mean, with layers of guitar that manage to refrain from muddying up the mix, and LOUD. Yet, for all the cacophony, it comes across with some memorable hooks along the way as well. Track 4, "Born Dead", kicks my ass utterly, with a riff that reminds me of Soundgarden's "Gun" from Louder Than Love, and that ain't no bad thing. I love the live, high energy sound of the record, all the way down to the speaker hum between riffs. Some bands edit that shit out; to me it sounds like I am sitting in the practice space with them, teetering on the stained back van seat they hauled out of the cargo section to make room for touring, swilling PBR and headbanging along with them. That's what I want my rock records to sound like. I can't wait to see this band live. They tour a lot, so you should see them live too. Gritty, independent punk metal. Fuck yeah. - Hellride Music

25 Suaves -- I WANT IT LOUD [Bulb / Bastard Sun] This priceless artifact of pure, whole-grain rock goodness arrived in the listening room literally hours before going to press (finally), so our listening time on this one has been, uh, limited (to say the least). Nevertheless, it doesn't require a degree in rocket science to determine if 25 Suaves still got what it takes to sling punk-metal hash in the fiercest way imaginable. Turns out they do (big, big surprise, right?) -- this time primal thud 'n strum duo Peter Larson and Fumie Kawasaki are joined in the quest for sonic terror and, failing that, some real groovy kicks, man, by bass whompin' man Dave Sahijdak. I have no idea if he's a permanent addition or just guesting here; I don't suppose it matters (and even if it did, it's not like anyone cares -- he's here, he's playing, everything is cool, why worry about anything beyond that, huh?). He whomps in fine fashion, giving the drum and guitar drive a bit more oomph without turning them into art-rock or anything useless like that. So what you get for your $$$ here are nine high-octane bursts of RAWK, dude -- no-frills, no-bullshit, drummer hits everything really hard and guitar player plays really loud and hard and everybody yells and sweats a lot and it's all very cool. It's not exactly hi-fi, but it's clear and understandable and it rocks, and you didn't really listen to stuff like this for nuance, did you? Goddamn it, this is not a Steely Dan record, if you want fucking arty-farty nuance then you should be listening to something else, for this is party rock. Loud, obnoxious, riff-heavy, thumpin' and jumpin' party rock and not for sissies, either. There are nine songs here with titles like "Turn Up The Music," "Give It Up," "Born Dead," "Let It Burn," and "You're Gonna Die." The band wisely keeps the lyrics to a minimum and the big, pounding, chunky like peanut butter but with way more raw meat riffs to a maximum. The real sound of real rock, DIY style, loud and in your face. Fuck those limp fuck poles in the likes of Disturbed and Korn and all that horrible shit; go sell those cds in your collection and use the $$$ to buy this one instead. You'll be better off. Really. Would I lie to you? Better be sure to get their earlier album 1938 too, while you still can. -- DEAD ANGEL 65

25 Suaves - 1938 On 1938 the duo known as 25 Suaves (Velocity of guitar and vocals and DJ Party of drums and vocals) tear through 9 cuts of raw, hard rock with just a touch of blues resulting in a disc that's part Motorhead, part MC5, part Stooges and part 70's punk with a touch of Aerosmith in their early days and some Sonic Youth styled noise. While styles that diverse probably shouldn't mix well, 25 Suaves do it and do it well.

25 Suaves -- 1938 [Bulb] The cover looks an awful lot like the cover to Motorhead's HAMMERED (which may explain why they didn't send me one with the disc; then again, maybe they're just forgetful). It might well be intentional -- certainly it would not be a ridiculous comparison, since this is one LOUD band. Kind of like AC/DC with even less complexity, or 400 Blows with even less people. With only two members (drummer DJ Party Girl -- how is it, anyway, that there are so many Asian girly-girls who can play drums like they use sledgehammers for sticks? Where are they getting all that energy from and all that heft when they're all approximately the size 'n weight of a pack of ramen noodles, only better-looking and certainly much tastier? -- and guitarist/shouter Mr. Velocity Hopkins), they are nevetheless loud 'n heavy enough to need a license for the operation of heavy construction equipment. Imagine if the Unsane had been willing to admit they ever listened to Grand Funk Railroad and AC/DC -- monumentally heavy but without the pained crankiness! I am going to tell you right now, in all frankness, that you should worship this band already. Apparently they have been around long enough to put out a smattering of other hep shit (including a split with Oneida, oooo), so i am kicking myself that i'm just now hearing them, but better late than never. This album doesn't even sound like music as much as it does the sound of a demolition site. They favor everything basic and extremely loud. They don't believe in introductions, "solo passages," or meaning. They do believe in rocking. Result: music for parties that resemble barely-controlled riots. "AHHHH FEELS GOOD!" All meat, no fat, so self-explanatory that even the doofi at the NEW YORK TIMES can figure it out -- you need this. Quit fucking around with that poo ROLLING STONE is claiming to be "the new salvation of rock 'n roll" or whatever bullshit they're spewing and buy this instead. You'll feel better, deep down inside. Trust me. Would i lie to you?
DEAD ANGEL ISSUE 54 (11/02)

25 suaves Minneapolis live report by M. St-Germaine -- ...25 suaves kick in right away. the vocals aren't working and like 8 of the 700 people in the room are dancing. after song pete yells at audience and demands they get on stage, and from this we got literally 2 solid hours of full on hot rock with like 400 people on stage fist pumping and a bunch watching on ground, dancing and freaking out completely the whole time and ending around 3 am. Suaves rocked thoroughly and without remorse. Pete had warned me at the house that despite their west to mid coast troubles that they were dangerous beyond belief. No lie. They continued on after the first hour, maybe halfway in, pete exchanging guitars and drove literally everyone wild and rocked with people jumping on his back and dancing less than a foot away entire time. Theirs was of dance and fun and rock. They did not stop, nor did the audience, it was electric! an incredible night, people left exhausted and fully entertained. Jen did incredible job at door which meant Suaves left with hundreds! Suaves were/are incredible, if you can catch the last dates of tour it is highly recommended.

I went to see 25 Suaves who played with this lite rock band the Hard Place at Kimo's. The lite rock band had like 250 people there and the suaves had like 50 and the lite rock band was not really my cup of tea so we went downstairs and were waiting for them to finish and when they did, Suaves started up right away because Pete and Fumi (they are a 2 piece drum & guitar thing) set up right next to the top of the stairs. We hurried to get up there but couldn't get up the stairs too quick because the hard place fans were trying to leave en masse, like the place was on fire. At the top of the stairs Pete was running back and forth, raving. They hadn't set up a mic so he was just screaming the words over everything. People were trying to get past him and he was blocking their exits, getting in everybody's faces and just going bananas with the one fist in the air and all the angus young moves. I had forgotten how out of hand they are. The record is great but when they play that shit live it's really fucking loud and great. They played like 5 songs. I guess before they played Pete was moving his amp through the crowd and this guy decided he was being a dick so he stood in his way and Pete told him to move his ass and the guy didn't so Pete shoved the amp into the guy's nuts and moved past him. Then the guy kind of reluctantly punched Pete twice in the face so as to not look bad in front of his girlfriend. Pete started yelling "Who the fuck are you? Who the fuck are you? Do you know who I am?" like a psycho which made the guy nervous and matt threw the guy and his friends out. He's lucky I missed the whole thing otherwise he and his pals would have had to deal with 140 lbs of flying steel. Anyway I went to the eagle after 25 Suaves got done but had missed everything. I heard it was as they say "off the hook." - Mike McGuirk, Spockmorgue email list

A few days ago I received a package containing the new 25 Suaves cd, sort of. I think it is a promo copy or something because it was missing the cover art etc...so no photo of the packaging for you all this time. Anyway, after checking out the packaging a bit I threw this muther into my stereo and commenced with the listening. Almost immediately, 25 Suaves made 1 thing clear...they are one with the rock. Riffage and rockage was oozing out of my speakers not unlike some live Motorhead recordings I have. I think that I read a comparison to AC-DC somewhere. I would not really say that so much as I would draw comparisons to some early Motorhead. Some songs even remind me of the lesser known post-Ozzy Black Sabbath record Born Again with Deep Purple's Ian Gillian on vocals. 25 Suaves seem to maintain a pretty good, pretty fun balance between raw, crazy noise and classic early "metal" (which is really rock at this point---KISS, Deep Purple, etc.).25 Suaves are serving up a big plate of rock for you...enjoy. Ryan, Lotofnoise.com

2. 25 Suaves - s/t CD-R [Bulb] - Don稚 buy their 途eal・release of 2001 -- a split 12・with Oneida; it sucks. The Suaves are scared of letting their fans know that they write great ・0s hard rock tunes. But, with this internet-only CDR shit, the band demonstrate that, in addition to rocking like Motorhead, they can carry a melody as well as Seger. - Justin Farrar

25 Suaves play math rock the way AC/DC plays math rock, which is to say that AC/DC is math rock which is gonna ruffle some feathers but hear me out. AC/DC is math in that they take a your standard rock y roll formula, the one they use in "Jailbreak '74," say, and deliver it with the hate that's eating their souls. Hate. With AC/DC, and these 25 Suaves songs, you know exactly what is going to happen next, the split second elastic pull back of the guitar at the chorus tells you so, and sure enough, it always happens, it's a formula that always works and never gets old, because it's math and math is permanent. The difference is that AC/DC played for the kids loitering in the 7-11 parking lot eyeing your Taurus, waiting for the right moment to unleash a violent expression of boredom and suburban malaise on your world, or if you were a peer of theirs, on your ass -- 25 Suaves are the kids that were the target of that "expression," grown up now and regurtitating their own version of that malaise so long gone underground in the metalheads that tatooed them with pain as teenagers but alive and well in their as yet unhealed, addled brains. Their set is one long "Train Kept A-Rollin'" inverted and worked over in more ways than Jill Kelly at American Bukkake. There's some Bassholes in there, in Mr. Velocity Hopkins' tortured bleat and some bluesy riffs, but for the most part this is the old formula spurting out of amplifiers and driven by DJ Party Girl's blood-on-the-floor drums. - Mike McGuirk San Francisco Bay Guardian

25 Suaves - On record, 25 Suaves seem occasionally manic but rarely rushed, making the most of their time. The highly compressed Chinese Students Study Abroad! EP (Bulb) captures the husband-wife duo wandering through shouted blues, controlled noise and undisciplined skronk in under nine minutes. Mr. Velocity Hopkins・guitar riffs snag on DJ Party Girl痴 insistent drumming, and his strangled vocals never quite break the surface. But with the hipsters all atwitter over the comparatively polished White Stripes, 25 Suaves can稚 rest on their Providence-via-Osaka pedigree or their limited-edition-12"-split-with-Oneida discography. Freed from the vinyl straitjacket, they lug the rock from town to town; not content with taking the stage, they claim the floor, too. Some bands would just be marking their territory, but 25 Suaves enlist the audience in a mergence of energy. By feeding off the crowd, Hopkins and the missus keep adding strands to their tangled entreaties. M.J. Fine, Philadelphia City Paper

...Then, the next band was the band that showed up out of the blue from Rhode Island. They were called 25 Suaves. It was a husband and wife team, husband sang and played guitar and the wife played drums. They were super nice, and their band was fucking sick. It was just straight up loud noisy guitar rock with great vocals. The audience was singing along on the choruses, even though no one had ever seen them before. It was such rock. -- From Kevin Keenan's diary

MASTADON, 25 SUAVES, SPORTS BRA Jacques 11/18/00 This zine is called The Noise yet ironically, not much of it gets reviewed in these pages. Us regular folk are put off by the genre?what, they’re too good to RAWK? They’re ABOVE the time-honored formula of three chords, verse and chorus, guitar-bass-drums-vocals? 25 Suaves, a Providence duo, is Pete (guitar, vocals) and Fumie (drums). They run Bulb Records, which puts out Mr. Quintron and other groovy eccentrics. They make quite a racket and, I was pleased to note, they definitely RAWK. Maybe that AC/DC concert they went to recently sunk in. I used to compare Pete to a Buddy Holly on amphetamines. Now his guitar rocks looser and harder, more mid-’70s but with a wink and nudge, while he bounces through the crowd like a rubbery human spring, shouting into the mike and doing call and response. Meanwhile, Fumie pounds out a relentless metronome on her kick drum, punctuated with snare rolls and cymbal crashes as hard as she can whack them out. This isn’t about finesse; it’s just loud, sloppy fun. But on "Karate Street," they flex their avant instincts with guitar that’s completely out of control, forgetting even to quote George Thorogood or ZZ Top.

25 Suaves - 1938 (Bulb) - Mr. Velocity Hopkins and friend play somewhat straightforward loud rock, which is an unexpected surprise for a Bulb release. - Ben Goldberg, Matador Records