Joe's last Finland gigs, May 2003

The following reviews have been taken without permission from my dear friends Andy and Vesa in Finland. Thanks also to Harri for taking the pics - Joe.

12.05.03 Whussup? Our weekend with Mr. Algeri, nowadays known as DJ Ripuli and them Small-Dick Bastards otherwise known as Ben's Diapers behind us, I can't help hoping it wouldn't be. We had hella fun! Our gig in Vaasa was the funnest we've had in a while, although more people coulda showed up, and while the gig in Turku was a bit more subdued due to the fact that we couldn't hear ourselves properly on stage, we still had a good time. The rockingest part of the evening still was when Ben's were joined onstage by Joe. Rarely if ever have the Diapers rocked so hard! Earlier, during his solo show, Joe changed the lyrics in his song "Sugar Rush" to match our outfits, and they came out somewhat, erm, homoerotic. The sentences Joe must've used the most during this weekend have to be "I'm not gay" and "DeeJay Rrrripuli!"

The afterparty in Turku was great, although the guy from Laihia talking finnish to Joe in Vaasa was hilarious, too... The official soundtrack of the "tour" wuz definitely the Only Ones' "Another Girl, Another Planet" as sung by Joe. The night between saturday and sunday turned out to be one massive singalong, with much abuse to Joe's beautiful Martin acoustic... "Piippolan vaarilla oli Ben's Diapers"... Also, if you've never seen an australian in a cold sauna, you have not lived... Thanks Jyrki and Mikko for the party! P.S. Go buy the 7"!!! It's great!!! Joe's songs are amazing, even with the "straight" lyrics!!!

Andy J. - Suggarush

http://mokomaki.com/sugarrush/frame.php

 

MAY 5, 2003 It truly was a nice weekend. The gigs were great. Joe Algeri was once again in good shape and damn it was also great to see The Sugarrush and Ben's Diapers after a while blasting out their new songs. Only negative thing about the evening was that there weren't that many people at Old School. So the audience could have been bigger, but I'm sure the ones who were there enjoyed what they heard. The party continued til Joe's vodka line boat left back to Stockholm in the morning. During the night/morning the acoustic guitar travelled from one musician to other and everything from Posies and Teenage Fanclub all the way to Iron maiden and Klamydia (not forgetting classics like "Piippolan vaarilla" and "Hämä-hämä-häkki") was played and caused some serious sing-along action. After a few hours of sleep I catched the train at 1 pm. Finally got back at home around 5 pm and started listen to the new additions to my record collection. These were of course Ben's Diapers 'Laughter Tracks', the split single by The Sugarrush and Joe Algeri and Joe's Scandinavian ep. Loved them all and after going them through once I had to hit the sack and get some sleeping done for a change. I was fucking tired, but happy.

Vesa Lautamäki

http://batman.jypoly.fi/~28752/News2.htm

 

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.

Grade: 4/5

Written 18.05.2003

Vesa Lautamäki

http://batman.jypoly.fi/~28752/Reviews/motherfucker.htm

the day after...