BIOGRAPHY (con't)   < Previous Page Turbojugend now has denim-clad chapters all over Europe and America, as well as in Rio, Santiago and Brisbane. One member has painted the whole outside of their house with 'Negro artwork designs. The Hamburg chapter have somehow made Turbonegro the offical band of the city's so-called "pirate" football team, St Pauli, while, at SXSW '07, the Texan chapter laid on a post-gig party for the group, featuring a Turbo tribute band - not even hyped British acts like Amy Winehouse were thus honoured. Turbo themselves, however, are probably the biggest fans of their own band. They have created a monster entirely to their own specifications and let it loose upon the world with unforeseen success. It is, they realise, a remarkable beast, approachable on many levels - as a masterclass in punk-rock attitude; a veritable orgy of twisted humour; an exploration of dark, self-destructive philosophy; as formularized performance à la AC/DC/Ramones/Slayer; as ritualized sexual deviancy; and, of course, as ass-shakin', motherfuckin' rock & roll, second to none. Some humourless idiots may get lost in the complexity of it all, but, to go with Sonic Youth rather than Baudrillard: Confusion is sex, honey! So., yes.: why change now, barring the odd tweak of fine-tuning? "The thing about formula bands," reckons Euroboy, "is that they start out with a basic idea that catches on. Then, facing great success they try to change or develop. When that doesn't work, they go back to the formula and make record after record that way again. Why bother with the failure bit?" Reconvening to begin 'RETOX' in Oslo in February 2006, Turbo's agenda was, Euroboy continues, to "combine the urgency and energy of our early punk records, with our more mature musical understanding since 'Apocalypse Dudes'." Hence 'RETOX'. If the last album was back-to-basics, 'RETOX' is full-tilt no-nonsense mindless boogie. In the run-up to recording, everyone had been grooving on ZZ Top, plus the new Eagles of Death Metal record. Stoopid biker rock was the order of the day - hey, 'twas ever thus! Each of the 12 songs that made the cut rank amongst Turbo's hottest to date. Opening with the gleefully nihilistic 'We're Gonna Drop The Atom Bomb', 'RETOX' is jam-packed with outsider anthems. Witness the baldie loser "stuck Googling for wigs", who nevertheless heroically rocks on ('Hell Toupée'), and the moving tribute to the obese that is 'Everybody Loves a Chubby Dude' - "I am the lizard king, I can eat anything!" yells Hank. The "sound of cold steel slashing through hot leather" comes in part courtesy of John Agnello, producer of The Hold Steady's 'Boys and Girls in America' album, who mixed 'RETOX' with the band in New York. On tracks like 'Welcome To The Garbage Dump' and 'No, I'm Alpha Male', our Nordic heroes sound steely, indeed - tougher than ever before. Above all it's the work of a six-piece riffin' machine firing on all cylinders. Throughout, there are touches that will tickle the punk/rock connoisseur - Hank's righteous Johnny Rotten-ese on 'You Must Bleed/All Night Long'; the dinky castanet rattle that follows the "Latino lovers" line in 'Do You Do You Dig Destruction' (FM-friendly anarchism, anyone?). Turbo dig so much music: it's all in there one way or another, but it's way beyond mealy-mouthed shit-speak about influences. It's all them now. In a rock world suddenly overloaded with piss-quicks with retard haircuts (they'll go back to their accountancy degrees in two years - fact!), Turbonegro should be cherished for the depth of their commitment. Made between deals, 'RETOX' is self-financed and, in Norway at least, self-released - a massive leap of faith for a band of their stature. In a global climate of fear, fundamentalism and repression, 'RETOX' also reminds you that rock & roll exists to be fun, funny, liberated and oblivious to its own consequences. When, halfway through 'What Is Rock?!', Hank launches into the refrain "We saved rock & roll" on the band's behalf, it's no joke. In their eyes, it's payback time. "Where is the cash?" they cry. At this stage, if anyone deserves the Zillion Dollars, for services rendered in the most barren and un-rocking of musical landscapes, it's Turbo-motherfucking-negro. Andrew Perry, May 2007   TURBONEGRO © 2008