Ever had that feeling you’ve had one too many? Sue have managed to musically capture that moment perfectly. “I’ve Been Drinking” is a heavy modern blues with a queasy fuzz bassline and a drum beat that staggers down the street swaying from side to side, beautifully reflecting the subject matter. At first, I even thought the vocal had been slowed down, it was so low and slurred. But as the song unfolds and the singer’s voice rises with a rasp to meet the challenge of the melody it becomes clear that his vocals are all natural, from those bass bellows to the roars as it hits the heights.
You’re probably already thinking that this isn’t the kind of drinking song to get you singing along and swaying your tankard from side to side, and you’d be right. It’s more a reflection on one man’s experience of self-destructively overdoing it. The lyrics represent this as they gradually edge into the nihilistic: “Soul searchin’ at the bar / I never get very far / We are what we are / Insects in a jar”.
The song reminds me of Cream’s version of the Mississippi Sheik’s song “Sitting on Top of The World” with its slow staggering swing and downbeat vocal. Sue’s guitar sound is hard and sharp and the vocal melody alternates with loud, fuzzy electric guitar solos that get increasingly nasty as the song goes on, rather like a pub crawl that’s taking an unpleasant turn for the worse. The first solo cuts through melodically like a Jimi Hendrix solo. The second builds from a repetitive low grind to a grating mid-range buzzing, and the final solo is just plain angry and shrill.
There’s a simple but compellingly watchable video that shows the band in black and white as they look increasingly unfocussed in their efforts to walk down the street, drink beer, play guitar or even meet the camera’s gaze. This all gets quite meta when the guitarist drunkenly air guitars to his own solo. Hugely entertaining, irresistibly gritty, no punches pulled. Same again gentlemen? Don’t mind if I do.
By: Eastside Jimmy