★★★½
On their first album in five years, The King Khan & BBQ Show waste no time making you realise how much you missed them by launching straight into the irresistible low-fi rock-gospel groove that had them branded a security threat by the Sydney Opera House. The band broke up soon after that infamous show in 2010, and it would be three years before they finally reconvened to give the whole thing another shot.
Bad News Boys continues where 2009’s Invisible Girl left off, which is to say it’s the musical equivalent of a quickie in the bathroom at a garage party. However, the new album lacks some of the giddy excitement and first-make-out-session energy of its predecessor, which may be a sign of the trajectory of many get-back-together relationships: sure, it’s good they’re together again, but things may never be the same.
In the end though, this music isn’t about romantic and loving relationships – it’s about the raunchy moments in which you happily lose your dignity in exchange for a wink and lipstick-smeared smile.
So pop this little blue pill of an album, close your eyes and don’t question where the excitement’s gone; just enjoy the fact that you can, for the first time in years, enjoy rock (hard) music.
The King Khan & BBQ Show’s Bad News Boys is out now through In The Red.
