Comedy rock is a tough genre to succeed in. Even if the gags are hilarious, if the music’s little more than a flimsy afterthought, no one’s going to give it more than a couple of listens. But Kyle Gass has the impressive CV entry of being the balder, even chubbier half of Tenacious D alongside Jack Black, so we already have high hopes for his solo debut.
It’s most effective when they combine chunky slices of southern rock-lite with wry, blackly comic lyrics, as on Manchild, which boasts ‘All my bills are overdue but I can play a mean kazoo.’
Better still is the country-rock romp of Bro Ho, dedicated to a paramour with some appealingly blokeish traits. ‘She fulfils my desires after we’ve watched a bit of MacGyver… she even likes the films of Martin Scorsese.’ Then again, he adds, ‘She lets one loose right after eating some beans.’
An acquired taste, then, but its heart is in the right place./o:p
