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Yum...I like Crunchy!  Enjoying Monty Colvin's wonderful band is somewhat akin to enjoying delicious Saturday morning frosted tasty cereal-you can't wait to open it, dig in, and check out the spectacular super-colossal nifty toy inside.  And after you eat multiple bowls full of those yummy sugar coated and marshmallow filled nuggets you want to dance around like a spinning top.  

Crunchy is FUN...melody, harmony, punky/chunky/metallic guitar riffs, fun dialog snippets, with light-hearted fun and a little dark-humor thrown into the mix.  The music on Clown School Dropout is a spectacular melodic pastiche of power-pop/metal/Beatles/Cheap Trick/Foo Fighters/punk/Galactic Cowboys with Monty's trademark vocals layered atop the mix.  You will NOT be able to sit still while jamming to _Clown School Dropout_...it is music that requires physical activity while listening (whether listening while vacuuming or bopping your head while typing as I currently am doing).

Lyrically Crunchy covers a variety of slice-of-modern-life topics, both humorous and serious.  "Mall Punks," "Psycho Ex-Girlfriend" (who among us cannot relate to THAT song-ladies just replace the "Ex-Girlfriend" with "Ex-Boyfriend" and join in the fun!) and "Watchin' the Clock" are self-explanatory.  "Vampire Girl" is about a gothic lady Monty met in London and features these lyrics "a pentagram necklace, afraid of the cross...I am not her type, O negative is what she likes".  "A Better Place" and "Lift You Up" are nice (yet not sappy) ballads with low-key synth backgrounds and nice harmonies about love & family.  "Fake" features a wickedly monstrous guitar tone that will stick to your noggin like Jiffy Peanut Butter.  My favorite cut is the mini-epic "Bill" about a fellow that Monty worked with but didn't know too well that went home after work and committed suicide-a sad, poignant story reminding us to take a look outside ourselves.  

Folks who enjoy effervescent, fun, jamming and melodic rock and roll will not want to miss Crunchy Clown School Dropout.  Fans of Monty's former bands the Awful Truth and Galactic Cowboys will find riffage a-plenty to keep them happy, and Monty's modern rock sensibility and wit will surely draw in new fans.  Check out Crunchy on the web @ <http://www.crunchy.ws>-the CD is available for purchase there.

Barry Nothstine 1/28/2004