Ike’s Wasted World is a no-nonsense New York band fronted by Eric Joseph ‘Ike’ Baestlein, a veteran in the local metal scene along with Chris Adamson on bass and Sean Teeter on drums.
New York has always stood alone with its Rock and Metal proponents, unlike L.A. whose denizens set and followed trends as fast as they came around there was always a certain aloofness as far as music was concerned on the East Coast and when you added to that a real artiness you had something unique – there as never going to be a New York scene like there was a Sunset Strip scene but man over the years there have been some great and diverse bands.
Imagine music without Kiss, New York Dolls, Ramones, The Velvet Underground, Talking Heads, Blondie, The Strokes, Living Colour, The Beastie Boys, Foreigner, White Lion, Helmet, Warrior Soul, Prong, Television, Twisted Sister, Helmet and countless others.
Ike’s wasted World are what I like to call barroom Rock and Metal, raw and rough around the edges, almost the antithesis of the New York artiness. Raw like MC5, raw like Circus of Power, raw like Clutch, raw like Motorhead. I love New York bands that sound like they can’t even contemplate giving a fuck and have a huge attitude to boot, or is tat just me? Maybe it’s just the accent? Either way it’s a breath of fresh air.
So if you like your rock, big, chunky, dirty and greasy and sounding like it should be emanating from the nearest biker bar,and with a side of fries and a slice of pizza, then check these guys out. The opener ‘There’s a Sucker Born Every Minute’ sounds like Ace Frehley playing a dive bar and has an aggressive street punk hard rock that is quintessentially East Coast. ‘Can You Make It’ that follows is even more aggressive, monolithic, and has a nice wail to the guitars before ‘Love is a Spell’ daubs a little Punk. It’s great fun.
On an album that’s rather relentless they come thick and fast: ‘Speed Queen’ is slowed down dirty biker rock and ‘South of Nowhere’ takes it down even slower and grimier before the midway riff kicks it into life. You can almost smell the engine oil.
The remainder of the album is just as stone cold cool and doesn’t miss a beat giving you a cool 13 shots of hot and sweaty rock and roll. Of the remaining tracks it’s ones like the thundering ‘King of the Railroad’; the more melodic punky riffery of ‘Say Goodbye to Berlin’ and the suitably grand ‘Dreams of Atlantis’ that really give you an insight into the scale and breadth of Ike’s Wasted World. It’s well worth visit!
Add to those already mentioned the live favourites ‘Key of Satan’ and ‘Diamondbacks’ and you’ve got an album that keeps on giving. Ike’s Wasted World – good as huge slice of NY pizza and an icy cold beer on a cold rainy and windswept night.