The Corndawg - Live AndIn Person

Tue 25th Jan, 2005 in Music Reviews

There are some people who don’t like novelty bands. “Costume changes”, they say, “and stupid lyrics, are just there to cover up the fact that they have no musical ability.” “If the band doesn’t consider Pink Floyd and Led Zep to be amongst the best bands of all time, they don’t deserve to release CDs of their own.” I don’t understand this school of thought myself. My CD collection is full of things I bought “because they’re a laugh!”, listened to two or three times, and which are now stored away somewhere away from the CDs I listen to regularly. And now I can add The Corndawg’s Live And In Person to that list. Excited? I can barely contain myself.

The Corndawg is a twenty year old medical student who resides in Philadelphia. Comedy and medicine don’t traditionally go hand in hand (except for Doogie Howser, M.D, right?). His bio suggests that not only is he a favourite of “head-scratching hipsters” but also “influenced by hardcore punk, TRON, Tim Conway and 50s gay pulp novels.” Having self-financed and released three albums prior to this one – including Enter The Corndawg and Your Place Or Mine? – the time is rife for a sweaty live album. Mr. Dawg himself stares from the CD cover, coming across as some bizarre love child of Gonzales and Har Mar Superstar – all porn star moustache, bling and ‘70s adidas tracksuits. The music itself could be no further from the slick beats and grooves of Har Mar or Gonzales, however – running through 30 songs in 41 minutes, The Corndawg is accompanied by nothing more than an acoustic guitar. Most songs clock in at less than a minute. There’s a song about gay men trying to pick him up in a Philly Sports Club called, um, Philly Sports Club. There’s a song about picking up a friend’s sister called I Know What It’s Like.

And don’t get me wrong, there’s very little musical ability here. Live And In Person comes across as 80% stand-up comedy and 20% music. Occasionally crossing the boundaries of good taste (my personal favourite song title – You Won’t Eat Meat But You’ll Chain Up Your Dog), he seems acutely aware that the whole thing is not to be taken seriously. A song called Is It Too Late To Abort?, about “a homophobic father”, is preluded by a warning that “this whole thing is a joke”, before “the chords of the song are G-A-E… that kinds of sounds like ‘gay’... but whatever.” Several songs are performed a capella – with The Corndawg (THE Corndawg – I don’t want all you FasterLouder kids getting him confused with all the other Corndawgs out there) crooning and yodelling his way through tracks such as Hookin’ All The Sailors and Lights Out On Your Love.

Lyrically, since that’s what we’re focusing on, the album is extremely undergraduate but amusing – the aural equivalent of an Adam Sandler or Ben Stiller film. The entire lyrical content of College Girl, which goes for all of fifteen seconds, is

when your daddy send you to school,
he didn’t want to pay for your cocaine,
your cell phone bills for your drug deals,
or anything else you name.
 
Midlife Crisis sees The Corndawg whistle along to his own tune, but he starts laughing and yells dammit! halfway through. Testify My Love is for “the ladieeeez”, until he realises that “shit, I’m playing to a bunch of dudes, aren’t I?” Some Bad Ass Motherfucker, “the hit”, is about our hero The Corndawg knocking out the said bad-ass motherfucker, because “he can’t hold down a motherfucking job.”

There’s also a live video included on the CD, but as The Corndawg himself admits on his official website, “I have a hard time finding the video… search in the D: drive or something.” Make no mistake, this is DIY at its finest. Reminding me more of Canadian one-man rock’n’roll extravaganza Wax Mannequin, a recent visitor to our shores, The Corndawg’s music is too simplistic to be compared with something like Har Mar Superstar or Spod, both of whom provide fantastic entertainment in a live scenario, but whom also both produce professional, slick, well-produced CDs. Live And In Person is a one-joke record, but it’s a good one joke. Not the sort of album you’d ever need to hear more than once or twice, but perfectly entertaining for that given hour. The release of Live And In Person coincides with The Corndawg’s Australian tour, which is all but over, having hit Brisbane, Wollongong and Melbourne already. It’s a shame I missed the Melbourne shows, because the prospect of seeing him perform You Won’t Eat Meat But You’ll Chain Up Your Dog was quite enticing. Next time The Corndawg, next time.