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Black President
Rob Ortenzi on 6/16/09 @ 2:04 PM
NOW PLAYING: Black President (COBRA MUSIC; cobramusicco.com)
THE STORY SO FAR: They're not quite the dudes at your local pub crooning Bon Jovi songs, but Black President did start as a cover band-albeit formed by Goldfinger guitarist Charlie Paulson and Bad Religion guitarist Greg Hetson. Joining forces with vocalist Christian Martucci of Dee Dee Ramone's band and Nausea drummer Ray Mayorga, they penned their first real song, "California (Back To Hell)," for director Tobe Hooper's 2003 remake of the '70s horror film Toolbox Murders. "It's easy to be good when you're playing the Damned's 'Wait For The Blackout,'" says Paulson, "[but] I never considered that we would be a real band until we got asked to do a song [for the movie]. That worked, so I just said, 'Why aren't we a band?' And we wrote a record."
WHY YOU SHOULD KNOW 'EM: The band's debut full-length is an unrelenting, thrashed-up rallying cry against the evils and ills of modern political institutions; it kills like it's the '80s all over again. Other commitments (you know, Bad Religion) forced Hetson to leave the band, but Black President's fast and furious attack remains as strong as ever. "Everybody thinks they're in the best band," Paulson says. "Everyone thinks they throw down. But we do. Period. There is nobody better at what they do than the motherfuckers in my band. It's like being in a band with the fucking A-Team. We're like the Special Forces of punk." -Sam Sutherland
YOU LIKE? YOU'LL LIKE: Black Flag / Zeke / The Bronx
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