Anyone who has played music professionally or even tried to keep a band together knows it's no pleasure cruise… but you do it anyways because ultimately… it is. This truth is where Skookum came up with the title for their most recent album: 'Pleasure Cruz'. Drummer Storm Baker sums up the whole album with one line in the song Momentum, "there's no virtue in patience if you suffer fools who force you to wait.'
Frustration, growth, regret, change, adaptation and movement: those are the underlying themes on 'Pleasure Cruz', a 14 track album that travels the distance through immaturity to evolution in one blazing hour of music. Recorded at Fiasco Bros. in New Westminster, BC, where such popular Vancouver artists as Bif Naked, Annihilator and Jar cut their teeth, this is the most honest, hard-working and live effort from Skookum yet.
Pleasure Cruz: A diverse track by track journey
Sail through the track list and you will hear the subtle underpinnings of that age-old philosophy that life is about the journey, not the destination. 'Pleasure Cruz' crosses a few rock subgenres on its way. The title track is as high octane ego-driven Biker rock as you get… while the metallic 'Creepin Blues' flippantly shows you there's happiness to be had in misery and insecurity. 'Use & Abuse Me' drills the point that submissive sex is mostly 'kinda pleasant' while 'Jetfuel' is a misogynist ascent to the strathtosphere of machismo. Taking a hard right turn are the two contrasts of the so-much-yet-to-learn earnestness of "Growin' Up's A Bitch" with the proud father's ode to his first son in "Aydan's Song". 'Pleasure Cruz' is a journey that crosses a lot of ground in one great ride. All aboard!
|