Yes, it’s time to get rooted! They’re back, after their 2007 debut album, Root Supposed He Was Out Of The Question. This new album sees Root! with more of the same social commentary – great to see someone out there is doing it.
Front man DC Root is the artist formerly known as TISM’s Humphrey B Flaubert, and he has the same targets in his sight – the media, corporate knobs, teenagers and the rest. Some might miss the acidic tongue of Ron Hitler Barassi, and if that’s the case – do what I do and put some TISM on. Root! play rollicking country alternative rock, with the riffing chops of guitarist Henry Root giving them a solid backbone.
My Other Bumper Sticker Is Intelligent is bloody funny, and (Sort Of) Emo is more of the same. One of the albums highlights is Root!’s ode to fake tans – Orange People, “They’re sizzling in solariums like bratwurst on a grill. Yellowcake complexion from Club Med Chernobyl. They creep me out with their light bulb smiles. Like jaffas at the movie theatre rolling in the aisles.” The clever hilarity is soaked across the entire album in tracks like Famous For Being Famous, I Fought The Groove Police, and I Hang Out With The Guys In Jet (‘s Uncle).
Root! are known for playing the smartest dumb rock n’roll in Australia, and Surface Paradise is no different – get your hands on it now. Assuming you like their continuation of the brutal and blatant TISM tradition of bitingly accurate social and political satire. And of course, we all know you can’t beat a good Root!
