of 09,” said Catalano. “We played three shows and already had our first CD out. The Damwell Betters are still going, but this band is a completely different attitude.”
Broomby, a native of Liverpool, England, came to town with the John Wylde Group several years ago and liked it here so much he stayed. He owns and operates MoonPanda Studios, a full-scale recording studio in downtown Springfield. The guys, or dudes if you prefer, hopped right in the studio and got to writing songs in a hurry, releasing Stimulated Emissions, a six-song CD, in May of 2009, just six months after the band’s conception. Little over a year later here comes Sexorcism with 10 new songs and the band pushing stronger than ever with a recent gig at the happening Brewhaus Prom Night and headlining other local venues. That’s fast work no matter how you look at it and no matter what mysterious forces drive the band.
“We wanted to do something different from when we recorded our Damwell Betters CD, to deconstruct the recording process and simplify it,” said Catalano. “Instead of recording so many tracks, the idea was to keep it fresh and raw. Just let it ride on the basic parts.”
“We wanted to pretty much record it so we could do it live. The last Damwell Betters stuff we recorded was orchestrated and had horns and extra vocals,” added Broomby. “We wanted to make sure we could pull this project off live with just the five of us.”
That clarifies some of the mystery behind the band, but what’s definitely not an enigma is the music of the Lazer Dudes. Every song comes on hot and danceable, big beats blasting with vocals terse and biting, plus that ever-present synthesizer lick riding somewhere on top of the rhythm to add a cagey sounding icing to the guitar-oriented song-cake. Then there are those love-to-lust-laden lyrics forcefully reminding the listener the gospel according to the Lazer Dudes seems smitten by the drive of sex for the sake of the song.
“We originally wanted to call the record Sexorcise your Demons, but shortened it to Sexorcism,” said Broomby. “But the songs are another thing that Jay did. He likes to name the songs and we do the music to fit the name.”
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