Since debuting with a self-titled LP in 2018, The Cutthroat Brothers, a duo consisting of guitarist-vocalist Jason Cutthroat and drummer Donny Paycheck, have been busy. On Friday December 3 they issue their fifth full-length and second of 2021, with their latest the second consecutive release to feature the bass playing of Mike Watt, who deepens but doesn’t radically alter the punky-bluesy appeal. Produced and mixed by Jack Endino, Devil in Berlin fits snuggly into the discography of Hound Gawd! Records. It’s available on vinyl, CD, and digital.
I’ve a sneaking suspicion The Cutthroat Brothers aren’t blood siblings, It’s an established fact however that both men are barbers, with Donny Paycheck clipping wigs in Takoma, WA and Jason Cutthroat doing the same in Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii. In matters musical, Paycheck did some drumming with Seattle-based punk thrashers Zeke before hooking up with his partner in coiffure and spiking a potent vein of throbbing scuzz-pummel.
In terms of comparisons, The Cutthroats have chalked up quite a list, including The Cramps, The Stooges, X, The Gun Club, and even Nick Cave. But maybe more impressive is getting Texacala Jones (she of 1980s cowpunk notables Tex & the Horseheads) to sing on “Black Candle” from their second LP (and first for Hound Gawd!), 2019’s Taste for Evil.
It’s the sort of gesture that reinforces a sturdy base of knowledge and strengthens a healthy streak of non-genericism. In turn, the Cutthroat Brothers have thrived exclusively on full-length releases (their third album, the digital-only Live in Europe, came out in May of 2020), a format where many outfits of similar roots-punk temperament simply run out of creative gas.
The King Is Dead, which was released back in June of this year in a vinyl edition of 300 copies for Record Store Day (with cover art by Raymond Pettibon), featured the Cutthroats with Minutemen-firehose-Secondmen-Missingmen bassist extraordinaire Mike Watt on new versions of the ten songs from Taste for Evil, but delivered in a different sequence and with Jones returning for “Black Candle,” now in the album-closing spot.
That record, now available digitally, is distinguished by an engaging looseness that can be traced back to the duo’s off-the-cuff invitation to Watt to join them in the studio, the offer made while they were guests on the bassist’s long-running radio program/ podcast The Watt From Pedro Show. On the surface, Watt’s acceptance is unexpected (perhaps), but upon deeper consideration is unsurprising, mainly because he’s an utterly indefatigable player, and in a wide variety of contexts.
Bearing down on Devil in Berlin’s 11 new songs produces a thrust that’s slightly more honed, as there are handclaps in opener “Bad Candy Girl,” yet not slick, as the guitar tone is suitably rough. The rawness is retained for “Been Away,” as the catchiness of the songwriting comes to the fore, but in a lean package that wraps up in just a hair over two minutes.
Watt’s participation brings obvious heft but it also allows for increasingly sharp guitar playing, such as the wicked slide heard in the title track and in “Love, Drugs, Etc.,” both cuts bolstering similarities to The Gun Club and even The Flesh Eaters. But neither track is a straight form swipe, with “Devil in Berlin” brandishing a rockabilly-ish foundation and “Love, Drugs, Etc.” dishing a punky forward motion that’s reminiscent of NYC in the mid-’70s.
“Cold Dead Night” slows the tempo and again spotlights the Cutthroat’s handiness with a tune, reminding me a bit of Elektra-era X, which it a cool development. Even better is the swamp punk of “Magic Tricks,” though the repeated lyrical mention of bubblegum couldn’t help but bring Sonic Youth to mind (as they covered Kim Fowley’s “Bubblegum” as a CD-cassette bonus track on ’86’s Evol).
With “Out of Our Cage,” Jason Cutthroat unveils a decidedly ’60s garage-derived vocal swagger, a motif that very likely would’ve been fumbled by lesser hands. But here, the swamp-Stooges approach persists and then gets laid on extra thick in “Kiss the Moon,” with its sweet plunge into a pool of Detroit-ish wah-pedal acidity in the back half.
From there, “Cherry” rolls into the home stretch with a touch of sleaze, equally bluesy and retro poppy, while “Like a Zombie” cultivates a horror rock aura complete with neo-’60s organ (courtesy of producer Endino) and vocal howls recalling Lux a little but also Jon Spencer if he’d cut a Halloween single for K Records’ International Pop Underground series with Girl Trouble as his backing band.
Nice. And closer “Wild Western” is just as swank as it brings us back into the vicinity of late ’70s Cali punk (with its roots in the fertile soil of Dangerhouse Records and the Tooth and Nail compilation on Upsetter). Again, Watt’s ease in fitting right in is no shocker, as he’s recently toured and recorded with the estimable Tav Falco. But it’s the songs and playing of The Cutthroat Brothers that makes Devil in Berlin worthwhile.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
