No, my friends, it's just approaching that time of life appallingly similar to death: middle age. And A bit Much is Rock 'n' Roll's mid-life crisis.
Knowing the ridicule it risks, it tries to hang with it's younger self in Minimum Rhythm, Maximum Blues, fumbling licks through clean guitars and pounding on the ivories. It eulogizes its receding hairline as it sings Happy Birthday to itself in You're Too Old. It fantasizes about the women it should've had and the pop sensation it isn't any longer in the swoons of (All I Want Is) George Harrison's Wife. It protests its mundane surroundings and slow decline into complacency in the throbbing I Don't Wanna Be a Housewife (for Someone Else's Family). And so on. Rock 'n' Roll is not happy about any of this.
Guitarist/vocalist Clinton Degan (ex-Fetish Chicken) provides the lyrical matter of this frustrated, fattened old bag, enamored equally of Anton Chekhov and Randy Newman, just as playful as dour, broken up, bemused, and sneering at the neighborhood's new money. Providing a backbone ready to retreat at a moment's notice or fight the air like a can of snakes, bassist Abram Taber and drummer The Zoogie Brothers (both ex-Paraffin Section) pound and shout, dodge and whisper, and are overtly shocking in every other way that such means will allow. The trio is otherwise augmented by a cast of wonderfully talented players (Tim Lillis [ex-Project Mayhem], Curtis Killian [School for Robots], Seth Bailin [ex-Goosepimp Orchestra, Sinbusters], Mike Tucker [Aloud, Big Big Bucks], and others) who color and realize their treacherous and dense harmonic story. The resulting public incidence is as melodramatic and socially awkward as you were afraid of.
So what if Rock 'n' Roll is chronically confused, disillusioned, and otherwise a mess? We'll turn out to hang with the self-conscious self-worshiping one. Do let the ridicule fall as it may. A bit Much can help make you and the ridiculous all right.
A bit Much is currently half way through their Five Holiday Singles project for the year, releasing holiday apropos themed singles on Valentine's Day, their drummer's birthday, Labor Day, All Saint's Day, and Boxing Day. Third single “Domesticated” b/w “I Don't Wanna Be a Housewife (for Someone Else's Family)” is currently available in special “Lunch Bag” packed compact disc or digital download.
