Men of Porn, Masters of Stupid Riffs

Men of Porn

Once you get past the name, which is kind of stupid, it's tough to mess with this band on any level. Men of Porn have had their debut CD out on Man's Ruin for a year. It's called American Style; it has a hot-looking female 70s torso on the booklet (reminiscent of the New York "Hamptons 2000" cover that kept me up for weeks); and it opens with a 16:50 track subtitled "Smoking Pot on a Sunday Afternoon While UFO's Drone Overhead." In short, it brings the goods, with chunky rock straight out of the Corn Belt that brought us Slipknot.

Men of Porn is a veteran band, and they sound it. A tight power trio that grooves on command, they support the gruff vocals of one Timothy Moss, who sounds a bit like the current James Hetfield, but less processed. Moss has quite a pedigree; as the former leader of Ritual Device, he brought Ministry-inspired, serial-killin' death rock to Omaha in the mid-90s. Back then, Moss was a legendary performer, throwing himself and various members of his band and fan base offstage on a regular basis. That's changed.

"I'm old and fat, and I'm the first to admit it... I'm pretty stationary these days," he says of his current stage act, which might include a 40-minute version of the "Smoking Pot" song or a more standard bunch of distorted tunes from American Style.

Those distorted tunes are pretty good. The best of them is "Ode to Theodore's," a two-and-a-half-minute rave-up about a bar with a slurred chorus of "The-o-dooore's/The-o-dooore's." It starts with a terrific riff, and then a genuine rock 'n' roll scream from Moss?but does he scream "C'mon" or "Kick it"? Nope. He screams, "Let's fiiiiiiight!!" From the first line ("Sitting at the bar drinking my beer and my...shots") to the distorted ending (lifted straight from Nirvana's "Dive"), "Ode to Theodore's" is a gem; the rest of the record tries valiantly to keep up. "Porch Song" further demonstrates Moss' slurring ability and his Kurt Cobain jones, as it sounds just like an early Nirvana b-side I forget the name of.

"Fat Trout" and "Teabaggin'" introduce the spoken-word side of Moss; in the latter he mumbles about incest and bestiality and generally gives his band a reason for being called Men of Porn. "Ballad of the Bulldyke," which unfortunately appears twice on the record (the "Remix" wasn't necessary), features Moss hustling sex toys over a stuttering beat. As for that 17-minute first track, it sounds a little like an Alice in Chains tune, naturally splashed with feedback to match "End," the album-closing noise experiment. It certainly shows some balls, and if you're in the right mood, it can hit.

The songs on American Style were laid down with a rotating collection of players?like any good scene band, Men of Porn's members are pretty flighty. They have included Ritual Device bassist Jerry Hug, Joey Osbourne of San Francisco's Acid King and a gaggle of guys named John or Jon I won't bother to list. Let's just say that a touring lineup in spring 2000 imploded when the bassist went back to his girlfriend and the drummer stopped taking his pills. The current current cast of characters, ready to rock Continental with High on Fire, ATP, Suplecs and Tummler, is: our man Timothy Moss on guitar and vocals; Brian Hill (from Acid King and Buzzov-En) on bass; and Sean Tyler (from El Dopa) on drums. Men of Porn's set will either be great or very, very bad; you'll either be up against the stage or out on the sidewalk enjoying some peace and quiet. There aren't many ways to react when a substance-abusing redneck yells at you, "Let's fiiiiiiight!!"

Men of Porn play Fri., Oct. 20, at Continental, 25 3rd Ave. (St. Marks Pl.), 529-6924.