Herbster Chubs
Five For Fighting EP
(Mondo LaPointe)
Just in time to comfort Buffalo Sabres fans, the Chubs grace us with another blast of spite that challenges their masterpiece, 1996's Married to the Moose. The boys aren't too swift with the numbers, as there are actually six musical crosschecks here, but, hey - why quibble? "Winnepeg Skank" gets things going in a typically gentle manner, with Eddie "Five-Hole" Fitsgerald dropping down a multi-tracked bassline that would blow bottom-feeders to the surface. When Piston Pederson's trombone checks in on the second verse, you're gonna swear Amtrak's comin' through your wall. And ten seconds into track #2 ("Russian Circus"), you're gonna wish it had. The Chubs pull no punches on this release, with "Joey Mullen" and "Gun Sale in Ashland" ranking among the band's best. Perhaps the most incidiary of all is "8th Round Draft Pick," a cautionary tale about a frustrated NHL prospect that'll hit you like an IRA car bomb. While the attack on the late, great Norman Fell ("(Stealin') Mr. Roper's Beer") seems like a cheap shot, it somehow makes sense in   context. After a few spins of Five For Fighting, you're gonna wanna assess the Chubs ten minutes for intent to injure,
and that's a compliment.
Claude Zachary