SHINY TOY GUNS
"WE ARE PILOTS"
(Universal Motown, 2006)
Back in the early '90s, when he was a kid, Chad Petree was part of a bubblegum-pop group called PC Quest, which made two albums. Silly as they were, those albums have become sentimental favorites of mine, and I've always tried to keep up, if only for curiosity's sake, with what the former members have gone on to do later. I decided to give Shiny Toy Guns a try as soon as I found out that Chad was part of the group, even though I knew full well not to expect any trace of PC Quest pop, and despite the fact that the recent resurgence of '80s-style synth-rock has for the most part left me cold. As it turns out, Shiny Toy Guns surprised me in all the right ways.
STG combines all that was good about new-wave music in the '80s -- part Duran Duran (catchy-as-heck songs), part Human League (the switch-off between male and female vocals), and a dash of everything else. "Le Disko" is the quintessential dance-rocker, "Waiting" a hypnotic ballad, "Rainy Monday" another great upbeat number, and the title track brings the album to a nice, understated, mid-tempo close. And, as strange as this sounds, just as pleasing to me as the music is the fact that Chad Petree (as well as his brother, Stephen, who was also a member of PC Quest) co-wrote most of the songs on the album.
It's ironic, really ... I'm an Eighties kid, and still love a lot of the music from when I grew up, but for some reason I just haven't found much to love in this '80s-inspired new-wave revival that's been going on for the last few years. Aside from STG, Under The Influence Of Giants is the only group in that sub-genre that I've really taken a liking to. But now I'm starting to get the itch to go back and give The Killers one more try...!
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