Miami’s The Van Orsdel’s take their love of rockabilly, psychobilly, punk and surf and synchronize it into a fun, impressive debut. Each track has a horror theme – death, evil, cemeteries and demons are served up with catchy hooks and sexy, rock-star attitude.
Singer George Van Orsdel’s throaty voice is reminiscent of Mike Ness-meets-Brian Setzer – and it works! George’s chords are perfectly suited for fast-paced tunes like Shallow Grave.
Music veteran Bruno Van Orsdel adds a unique sound to the band with his stand-up bass. He is good at what he does and sounds great on every song. Todd Van Orsdel, the young guitar player, is well on his way to rock-stardom. His passion for music shines through on Goodbye and Spook Show. Newcomer Alexx Van Orsdel is a decent drummer. He has room to grow with the band.
The songs, all written by The Van Orsdels, live on in your head long after the CD has ended. Evil is the tune with the most crossover appeal and is radio ready. Its catchy lyrics and foot-stomping beat is worthy of the Stray Cats and the band does an excellent job serving it up. George croons “Come take me away when the clock strikes 13 – I’m the meanest motherf*cker that you’ve ever seen.” And we swallow it up whole.
The album does have some flaws. George’s voice is sometimes drowned out by the other instruments, the quality of the recording could be better, and too many songs have pre-recorded voice tracks from various sources.
Where The Van Orsdels excel is in their originality and attitude. Their sound is like no other and their ability to fuse different musical genres works. Their Misfits-like fascination with horror is exciting, not frightening. Listening to them, you know that they have fun and love what they do.
Ain’t Life a Drag is a springboard for The Van Orsdels. If they stick with their sound, they will continue to grow in popularity. There are reasons that they are taking the South Florida music scene by storm, and those reasons can be heard on their impressive debut.
For information on The Van Orsdels or to get your copy of Ain’t Life a Drag, visit TheVanOrsdels.com
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