When the 90’s hit Toronto, the underground sounds of Alternative came oozing from the gutters and made their way into our club scene and began choking out the Pop bands that had it great in the 80’s. It seemed the joyful times of Pop were being pushed out by the wildly abrasive noise of these new experimental sounds. Lyrics were becoming harshly truthful and we as an audience would sit within the angst and let us be coated in these new murky waves.
Amongst bands, like, I Mother Earth, Bootsauce, Me Mom and Morgentaler, Glueleg slipped in and began to assault their new audience with a pneumatic sound that would resonate within the vibe of Toronto. Now mind you, this band did not go on to do large things in stadiums or go on world tours, but what they did do was put together an album that could shake up the foundation of our scene here in Toronto. That album is called, Heroic Doses.
This was a recording that the music scene was not really ready for. They had a funky sound that seemed offbeat. They had heavy guitars that could belong to almost any Metal band at that time. They had a horn section that was more in your face than getting you on the dance floor. They sounded like a Funky Heavy Metal Progressive Soul band that could rap with street cred. It was all very unapologetic, raw and even humorous at times. This band did the movie, Reservoir Dogs justice with their song Mister Pink. One man isn’t what he seems? They even captured the essence of the 1960’s cartoon Spider-Man with that swing music we would hear as Spidey was swinging around on your TV. BTW, what were Spidey’s webs attaching to when he was swinging around? I guess we will never know… Glueleg had a great knack for attaching cool pop culture within their music.
The two songs worth noting is their title track, “Heroic Doses”, that start off this crazy journey with a solid intensity that almost slams instructions in your face and forces you to listen to what they have to say- AGAIN!. The other pure gem is the song “Come with me”, as it starts with some very choppy horns and painfully dictates an insensitive invitation to visit their nirvanic hospice.
“Dust”, has a ritualistic edge that that swindles itself in some Neo-Gothic spasm and attempts to lay you to waste.
“Pampa De Chooch”, is an offbeat trip that seems to announce itself within a smoky room that mentally exhausts you as you sway into a living coma.
“I saw you Joja”, is a Metal mash up with Rap from an alternate universe. Prepare yourself to be pulled in several directions at once.
“Lilies”, is a straight forward steamroller on steroids as it races like a juggernaut with a purpose. This is a great song to fly down the highway with!
“Park Alien”, starts off almost bluesy and slips into something jazzy that would please the likes of someone like Frank Zappa, for just the right amount of strangeness and creativity.
Glueleg finishes off with a nod to the Masters of Prog, King Crimson. Their rendition of, “Red”, is fantastic. It is like have a beautiful dessert after this entire creative meal is whipped up by a bunch of unglued chefs.
Here are some images of Glueleg:
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