THE DRIVING CONDITIONS
Full Throttle

From the opening line from singer Woody on ‘Eat You Alive’ it’s fair to say that Brisbane bad boys THE DRIVING CONDITIONS have listened to Bon Scott era AC/DC once or twice – and in this post-Airbourne world where Accadacca soundalikes are a dime a dozen, these guys are doing it far better than most and even manage to bring something new to the party.

There is a cheekiness to “Full Throttle” that Bon would admire, and the music throughout is head shaking, torn denim jeans, stylish but unpretentious rock n’ bloody roll, served up by guitarist Nathan Ward, bassist Sol Freeman and drummer Dave Stapleton.

Anything here is bound to sound great in it’s native live and sweaty environment – the band’s road miles show on record, and with a swag full of songs about chicks n’ booze n’ rock n’ roll, this is the best possible soundtrack to your next summer barbecue.

If ‘Crazy Bitch’ is a little TOO closely related to ‘Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be’ and ‘Striptease’ is a Penthouse-letter-to-the-editor set to music, that’s more than made up for with the unshakable exuberance of ‘Daddys Girl’, ‘Take Me There’, ‘Black Hawk Down’ and ‘Old School’.

‘Be Mine’ deserves special mention as the only lighters-aloft ballad on the album, but also because it’s the only song which totally deviates from the Accadacca template the boys have set for themselves, and shows that they can branch out musically on future releases successfully, should they choose to.

Shane Rockpit