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If Linda Blair was my Lolita, her head would spin.
She would levitate, vomit green,
beat a priest - what a teen!
Dick Clark would grin.
And foul things'd spurt without discretion from her tiny mouth.
She'd say: Spank me, spank me, spank me DADDY!
(…)
Get that cross right out of there, girl
You don't know where it's been.
You're 13, underage, into bondage.
It's just a phase. You're too young to sin.
(…)
Those of you who are familiar with horror will surely recognize the subject of these verses: we are obviously talking about that masterpiece of a film called "The Exorcist" and, in particular, about that character Linda Blair (the little possessed girl, protagonist of the film) famous for having vomited a green mush (later identified as pea soup) in a priest's face in a film scene: a stunt that did not please the Catholic Church at all. And this is (cinematic) history.
The question is: who could have thought of dedicating a love song to such a girl? But Tony Antona and his crazy Alice Donut, of course! The band, hailing from the gloomy New Jersey, was formed in 1987 and, it seems, was signed by an enthusiastic Jello Biafra after just 3 concerts, becoming a pillar of the famous Alternative Tentacles stable, which has released all their records.
This is their debut, dating back to 1988, and it already encompasses all the qualities that would characterize their sound: post-punk with echoes of hard rock and psychedelia, strongly characterized by Antona's psychotic voice, somewhere between a Black Francis (Pixies) and a Gordon Gano (Violent Femmes), which always seems on the edge between a hysterical crisis and an explosion of murderous rage.
The lyrics, all permeated by a cynical black humor, talk about violence, sex, religion, and various depravities. As an example, in addition to the aforementioned "Green Pea Soup", there is the neurotic "New Jersey Exit" (where it talks about kids who, in the garage, commit suicide with their dad's car exhaust gases) or the ballad "Joan Of Arc", dedicated to the famous French martyr ("… you hot little catholic bitch…").
Upon listening, one notices how heterogeneous their music is, ranging from melodic punk pieces like "Bedpost" and "World Profit" that evoke the Buzzcocks, to slower pieces like the almost-hardrock "Great Big Big Big Head" or the quirky "Mad Dogs On A Bone", "American Lips" and "Tipper Gore", relatively close to the style of early Pixies. In "Windshield Of Love" they are bewildering, even venturing into a syncopated country western, sung by something akin to a cowboy with serious schizophrenia problems.
They are the right guys for an acid/distorted reinterpretation of the famous "Sunshine Superman" by Donovan (belonging to his most psychedelic period, of course). "Deathshield" begins with a long and disturbing sampling of moans, gasps, retches, and guttural sounds that introduce the music: slow and desperate, reminiscent of Flipper.
The album concludes with the wild "I Want Your Mother", introduced by a hilarious skit where a voice comments on a famous scene from the film Easy Rider (where George, that is Jack Nicholson, smokes grass for the first time). Alice Donut is a band that hasn't received all the accolades it deserved: their style is original, in some ways reminiscent of the surreal-demencial attitude of the Butthole Surfers, but nevertheless distinct for the catchiness and immediacy of the compositions.
Listen to them if you are looking for something different from the usual Californian hardcore punk band, you won't regret it.
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