The Business

The Business: Hell 2 PayHell 2 Pay (2002)
TKO Records

Reviewer Rating: 2

User Rating:

Contributed by: EwanWadharmiEwanWadharmi
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on June 14th 2002So Fitz and his cronies have shacked up with TKO after a brief fling with Epitaph. To celebrate, they have released a limited edition 7" picture disc of songs available on the Epitaph album No Mercy For You. I assume Epitaph can't honor these sort of long-standing punk traditions what with spending .

So Fitz and his cronies have shacked up with TKO after a brief fling with Epitaph. To celebrate, they have released a limited edition 7" picture disc of songs available on the Epitaph album No Mercy For You. I assume Epitaph can't honor these sort of long-standing punk traditions what with spending all their time being punk and whatnot. (Send me Nekromantix, you suits.) I love the Biz as much as the next sellout shouting old-schooler. So it is with great dismay that I inform you this release is the most inconsistent and unbalanced specimen I have been offered from the knockout folks.

"Hell 2 Pay" is a bombastic screamer with metal tinges all 'round. Abbreviated vocals whet my appetite for The Adicts. The hitman tale goes thusly, "Gun in your hand and God on your side, a shot rang out on a London night. In a land where justice is a game." Steve Whale's guitar lives up to his name, rivaling Nicky Garrett in ferocity. Crunchy bass builds tension and plenty of cymbal bashing to further things along. The thick London accents are great to hear again, especially when the whole crew joins in. I'd like to hear the story about asking gangster Dave Courtney to appear on the record (so to speak.) That takes more balls to do than I could raise. With "Gangland" things start to go south. Proctor gets in some nice bass runs, and the guitars are soothing. Yes, soothing. This one's slow and repetitive. The harmonies at the end are a nice change, but Fitz' vocals are singsong and resemble a bored Bon Scott. I don't know what they were thinking when they covered Eddie & The Hot Rods' "Do Anything You Want To Do," but now we know what Cheap Trick would sound like fronted by Ozzy. Surely The Rods had better material than this, if they were so allegedly influential. For superior near-punk, the library of congress recommends Alberto y Lost Trios Paranoias.

On a scale of what to do next: If zero is snag the CD for the bonus track, one is score the vinyl for the pretty picture, and ten is buy the full-length to support corporate/indie punk; Hell 2 Pay gets a four - sit and wonder what the fuck happened to the mythical Down The Pub.

Track Listing:
1. Hell 2 Pay
2. Gangland
3. Do Anything You Want To Do (CD only)

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

Anonymous (June 23, 2002)

JOE MAMMA secretly enjoys anal sex with his dad.

adam (June 19, 2002)

Actually Joe Mamma makes my day much more amusing. I can't even read what he wrote at the bottom of the Hot Snakes review without laughing.

JOE_MOMMA (June 17, 2002)

Wow ananosmous i dont know who yoo are but yoo sure are being nice too me. I wish i could give you a big squishy hug but i aint gay i just hate ska. Which is gay.

Anonymous (June 17, 2002)

is anyone else really begining to like joe mamma?

he's almost as funny as jonbonbandersnatch or fathead.

JOE_MOMMA (June 17, 2002)

That was me who says that thing once it didnt have my name but that was weird i think it might have been ska setting me up yes maybe ska is poopy.

Anonymous (June 17, 2002)

This is joe momma. You are correct sir. Wooooooo wooo wooo wooo wwoooo wooo woooooo

Anonymous (June 17, 2002)

JOE MAMMA = good
this cd, the Nekromantix, phychobilly & of course ska = bad

JOE_MOMMA (June 15, 2002)

Whoops.

Anonymous (June 15, 2002)

Bite them off

JOE_MOMMA (June 15, 2002)

My balls are in your mouth

Anonymous (June 15, 2002)

The Business are pretty damn good.. and I agree ska is amazing, especially when plugging joe momma's mom to the offbeats

Anonymous (June 15, 2002)

"Joe Mamma" needs to go away and find his way back to the disney website. No one is impressed, kid. Come back when your balls have dropped.

JOE_MOMMA (June 15, 2002)

Once i bought this thing called a shoe at the mall. The mall was filled with ska so i was like oh man this is so fudgeing quackers. So i left.

Anonymous (June 14, 2002)

mall punk? what you talkin bout foo

Anonymous (June 14, 2002)

this a annoying cliched mall punk band FUCK all you STUPID SHITS!!!!

fakesmile (June 14, 2002)

And ska is fucking great...

fakesmile (June 14, 2002)

Business is cool
The bad score was for you assholes bashing the Nekromantix and Psychobilly....

fakesmile (June 14, 2002)

Nekromantix are pure fuckin Psychobilly!
How the hell can you say "Return Of The Loving Dead" is a bad CD. It's fuckin great...

But it's old school rock n roll and ofcourse that's not like any emo-core band you are listening to...

Go to a live show of these suckers and they'll show you what rock n roll is...

EwanWadharmi (June 14, 2002)

When I saw Necromantix there was nary a trace of ska. Just creepy psychobilly. The Business also is bereft of ska. I don't think that word means what you think it means.

Anonymous (June 14, 2002)

i meant "more new wave". i'm begining to write like that idiot joe.

Anonymous (June 14, 2002)

i liked it when the business were move new wave.

JOE_MOMMA (June 14, 2002)

Yeah nekromantix = ska. Ska = bad.

Anonymous (June 14, 2002)

you don't want them to send you the Nekromantix, Return Of The Loving Dead is one of the worst cds to come out in the history of western civilization.

JOE_MOMMA (June 14, 2002)

I was like whoa when i heard the ska thats what i heard when i listened to them i know ska when i hear it.

brendan (June 14, 2002)

and how exactly did you come to the conclusion that the Business are ska?

JOE_MOMMA (June 14, 2002)

I love you

adam (June 13, 2002)

...(sigh)... I really was trying to ignore you.

First of all, I actually like the Business. Secondly, I fucking LOVE good Ska music. Thirdly, and I think I speak for everyone when I tell you, we were all amused with your stupid little 3-year-old-speak messages, but now its getting tiresome. You've proved you can post the most inane comments we've ever seen. Congradulations, now shut up.

JOE_MOMMA (June 13, 2002)

Shindo thinks the business are gay ska too like me cuzz they are gay ska right yes

JOE_MOMMA (June 13, 2002)

Yeah thats what i thought too

i was like is this punk????.... And then i was like no its not its ska and i was like ska is gay the business are gay ska band

adam (June 13, 2002)

I donno... as far as we've heard this isnt a "TKO signing" as much as a simple single release. I'm pretty sure that the band is still signed to Burning Heart (and distributed by Epitaph in the US). Bands release singles on other labels all the time (in Europe this is released on Plastic Head).