Ever since the Two Cow show and the after show conversation I have known I had a task that needed to be completed….make a post about I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch In The House…heretofore referred to as ICLASOB. ICLASOB is a rock band from Portland, Oregon…think Skynyrd gets political full of piss and vinegar….Currently there are four cds available from these guys: 2002′s “Creepy Little Noises”, 2004′s “Put Here To Bleed”, 2005′s “Menace” and the recent “Live At Dante’s”. Also, there is a solo cd by Michael Dean Damron (singer) called “Perfect Day for a Funeral”. Michael’s voice has a certain amount of raggedness that fans of Two Cow and Lucero have grown to love. Lyrically they range from drinking, drugs, killing to decidedly “I hate Dubya and his p.o.s. war” (so do I Mr. Dean, so do I) material….there are also moments of tremendous tenderness such as “Pauline” and “Thousand to One”….one this there isn’t is a lyrics wrapped in innuendo and symbolism. ICLASOB is pretty direct in the same way a hammer on the bridge of your nose would be and perhaps that is a the root of my devotion to these guys. Michael Dean’s solo cd is decidedly darker and more personal than the ICLASOB material and musically it is notably calmer but the biting and brutal honestly are still present. It is a shame that in the modern industry prefab paint-by numbers bands like Nickleback grace the tops of charts and covers of Rolling Stone the bands that matter are stuck riding in vans and sleeping on floors.
Ultimately, High Bias put my feelings regarding ICLASOB better than I ever could:
“The argument’s been made that the best rock & roll is about feeling, emotion, catharsis. Craft and polish are all well and good, but ultimately there better be a throbbing heart under all the machinery, or the effort is tantamount to an empty gesture. In that light, no one feels things deeper or more painfully than Mike D, the leader of Portland, Oregon’s I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch in the House.”
So, check out these songs and perhaps buy a cd or three.
I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch In The House – Pauline
I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch In The House – Good Day To Be A Husband
I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch In The House – Fall Down
I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch In The House myspace
Michael Dean Damron myspace
Autopsy IV
Part time blogger. Full time hater.
These guys are among my all-time favorite bands. “Creepy Little Noises” is an outstanding album – one of those “Top Five albums I’d have with me on a desert island” selections. I’ve even made a ringtone for my cell of a short clip from “John L. Sullivan.”
I’ve been waiting for a year or more for them to come to Spokane, but I think I’m just gonna have to go to Portland to see them live (not that I need much of an excuse).