Ahh, Sweden - a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't wanna live there. Cold even in the summer and their booze is bullshit unless you wanna pay thru the nose. Was there for a minute over the summer and it did not live up to my imagined world of bleakness ala Birmingham, England but with tons of people drunk on the wodka. No dice. (Note : I was smart and loaded up on the duty-free booze on the very interesting ferry ride over from Denmark along with fellow bandmates and the incredible COLA FREAKS.)

Famed for it's massages, erotica, meatballs, chefs, and now this band. I can sum this band up easily by saying they blend the speed and harmonies of a band like THE MARKED MEN with the punk rawk hooks of a band like THE PROFESSIONALS (who also had their share of harmony but light on the speed, at least in the music).

I could also mention that both Glen Matlock (SEX PISTOLS) and Brian James (THE DAMNED) make appearances on here. But that wouldn't bring out what is great about this band via the written word. What is great about them is their ability to write a good rock song with excellent harmony and then speed it up a notch or two to make it a touch more ummm frantic.

If you have never heard THE MARKED MEN then imagine if you would perhaps a band like DILLINGER 4 but with a garage rock sensibility. THE MARKED MEN always reminded me of honey glazed bbq. Sweet with a good kick to it. Matter of fact, their "On The Outside" album was a bbq classic around these parts. This will most likely replace it because it has some great things that they were missing. It has more swing to it. More bounce even. And at times it reminds me of THE MAHARAJAS if they were doing '78/'79 punk stuff.

You know what I mean. that point where punks learned to take the bludgeon and meld it with the sickly sweet harmonies that bands like The BUZZCOCKS were perfecting all along. This makes obsolete bands like The HATEPINKS etc who just look to pantomime a sound. ZOOPARTY does one better than all of that by taking "that sound" (fireworks, chaos, your first kiss, a nice hamburger, cruising in your car with all the windows down on a nice spring day, etc) and making it their own.

If you could bottle this shit and sell it you would be rich. Plus, if you wanna sample of this and other fine products from the same label : all orders receive a free Acme "10th anniversary" sampler disc. No shit. Git to it boy!

- Two Tub Tony

OFFICIAL SITE: www.zooparty.se

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