The Sugarrush / Joe Algeri: Hey Motherfucker (Rhythm Barrel, 2003)

"Hey Motherfucker! Joe Algeri wrote a song about The Sugarrush and The Sugarrush wrote a song about Joe Algeri". This is what it says on the cover and that is what this split single is all about. Mr. Joe Algeri is an australian gentleman and an awfully nice guy who has been living in Sweden for the past few years. During the time he has also been playing gigs here in Finland a few times. A few years ago after his first visit, Coma (of The Sugarrush) wrote a song about him. (That was quite a memorable weekend btw. First a great show at Turku and then same at Helsinki the day after, but oh dear how crazy was that car trip we made from Turku to Helsinki to see the other show. I'm not sure have I've ever been in a car during so awful weather. Well luckily Dino (Bridget), who had the unpleasant task to be the driver, got us to the destination safely. Apparently a snow storm is not a good reason enough to miss a pop concert). Anyway now one thing have led to another. Joe have written a song about The Sugarrush and now these "tributes" are released as a split single. This ep also contains one additional song from both of the artists.

Let's get started with Joe's side. His tribute to The Sugarrush is called..eh..'Sugar Rush'. It was written with Danny McDonald (who just got his new album out btw, should be worth getting, the earlier P76 album was fabulous) and it is a very typical song by Joe Algeri. Strong memorable vocal melodies and sounding warm and inviting. The other song by Joe is called 'Break Up In Barcelona' which is again perfect singer-songwriter typish song. I always actually preferred this solo stuff to Jack & The Beanstalk material. I do enjoy listening to The Beanstalks too, but this solo material is more uplifting. Acoustic guitar just must be my favourite instrument and in right hands that is all you need. Gentle guitar strumming, hummable melodies and Joe's soft vocals. That is all I need. Really looking forward to Joe's next solo album. The songs he has been writing with Magnus Karlsson (from swedish pop group called 'Happydeadmen') seem to be really good. Obviously I've only heard a few which have been on his website, but based on those and the previous solo album, expectations are sky high.

The Sugarrush's side starts with '3 Chords For Joe'. It's a quite unusual The Sugarrush song. Not melody-wise, but this time they've just forgot the loudness, heavy guitars have been left on the shelf and they've made the song lean to acoustic guitar while Coma's soft vocals tells the story that there's no point to kiss a girl, because mr Algeri already kissed them all. As a relief to Erika Algeri, I'll assure that the story is purely fictional and none of us has seen Joe kissing a lot of girls in Finland (heh). The other song is titled 'Summer Love' and it's The Sugarrush the way we know it. It ain't their best song. More likely quite a standard ass-kickin' loud pop song by them. But honestly. Can anyone make better loud pop music than these guys? What? Did someone say Weezer. Well maybe on Pinkerton.

Hey Motherfucker! is a really good split single. If you like either Joe Algeri or The Sugarrush or both, it's a must have record. If you're not familiar with them, this could be a nice little introduction although I would recommend starting with 'Everything Under The Sun' by Joe Algeri and 'Mirrorball Ballerinas' by The Sugarrush because these are the finest records these lovable artists have so far created.





The Sugarrush Website

Joe Algeri Website


Written 18.05.2003