Prima Donna “Nine lives And Forty Fives”

It comes as no surprise that Prima Donna are infamous on the LA scene as they have that gutter rock sound we associate with that town and it is clear that they have been raised on a steady diet of punk and glitter rock. There is, however, some substance to their musical background having toured with legends such as Adam Ant, D Generation and even Green Day. Indeed, frontman Kevin Preston has also participated in the Green Day side-project Foxbro Hot Tubs.
This album certainly gets off to a flying start with “Pretty Little Head”, which is an in your face sleazy, glam rocker and shows the band mean business. There is a more ‘contemporary’ feel to “Deathless” and the intro even has an almost Strokes esque sound. Don’t panic though, they haven’t joined the legion of boring indie bands. Instead a song like “Born Yesterday” adds some cool honky tonk piano a la The Quireboys or perhaps The Throbs (a band from back in the day that you really should check out!). They’re also not against a few power pop moves, as shown by the almost bubble-gum (but brilliant) “Living In Sin”. Whilst their cover of Dwight Twilley’s “I’m On Fire” is like an awesome, big, glam rock stomper.

Whilst there are elements of both pop and glam, the band is certainly on the dirty side of rock n roll, as shown by “Rubbish” which has a New York Doll’s ‘trash’ feel to it. A message that is firmly rammed home by the good time rock n roll of “Tattooed Love Girls” which has us reminiscing about the legendary Hanoi Rocks.
The phrase ‘all killers, no filler’ really applies to this album, the pace just doesn’t let up. It’s a dirty rock n roll album with a big, smudged lip stick mark plastered all over it. Anyone who has a love for rock n roll with a glammy flavour will love this album. If we’re honest, it’s not very ‘now’ but there are enough bands delivering boring music pretending to be rock. Prima Donna, however, are taking us back to far more wild, fun and exciting times …and more power to them!!