Bad Boy: Laurice rocks out
30 Mar 2019.

by Drew Rowsome -

Just under three years ago, I was fortunate enough to make the acquaintance of Laurice. The man, the story, and the music are all charming, fascinating and upbeat. Since then Laurice has released the lush and romantic album Balladeer, as well as a steady stream of his trademark camp and flash videos. He's also reacquainted himself with the joy of playing live and has been polishing his sassy glitter and leather onstage personality. And now Laurice has released his first rock album, Bad Boy. In his record label's words,

The Master of Camp does it again! Bad Boy, the brand new rock album by Laurice, covers many styles of the rock genre, including punk rock to metal, space rock to pop, and glam rock to power ballad. There is even a twelve bar blues, destined to become a classic by the discerning listener. Surprise bonus track features an updated version of the 1972 punk rock classic When Christine Comes Around by Grudge with a rollicking lead guitar solo finale rivaling the original recording. Bad Boy by Laurice is a terrific new rock album by this seventy-five year old veteran of the global music scene. Vinyl comes housed in a screen-printed sleeve and is hand-numbered out of 200.

There is no question that Laurice is versatile, having been a star in the punk, pop, easy listening and dance scenes at various times, but rock n roll? As someone who is apt to blast either of Laurice's two Greatest Hits albums or GAYDAR when I need a jolt of delirious pop bliss, or Dance, Dance, Dance for some disco grooving, I wasn't going to bet against him. So I was delighted when Laurice sent me a link to the tracks that make up Bad Boy. And the videos that he and his partner Larry D Norton (aka Big Bear Larry) created as promotion. 

My only regret is that listening to music on a computer, phone or tablet is like admiring a Picasso or Francis Bacon painting through sunglasses. With scratches on the surface. But the compressed tinny sound that we have all become used to is now the norm, so I cranked the volume to compensate. And was rewarded by some snarly guitars courtesy of Jim Rhindress kicking off the first track "Shoulda Been You." The track is evocative and sexy as Laurice laments that he "Knocked on every door/Where I though that you might be/Turns out I'm too tame/You're having sex but not with me" and  "Shoulda been you boy/Shoulda been me/But you want to be free."

The track is catchy and fun but for the video, Laurice slaps on a red wig and hits the rainy streets to create a camp homoerotic masterpiece.

The guitars bring a welcome dimension to Laurice's pop palette but I find the processed vocals distracting. Laurice's voice is so clear and nuanced that burying it under effects seems counter-productive. Plus it mutes the clarity of the lyrics which, always smutty and funny, are a great part of the appeal. (I'm also painfully aware that listening and watching on a computer instead of a high fidelity stereo system may have greatly compounded the problem.) And the lyrics become important as Laurice - I'm treating the tracks as the album Bad Boy and listened in order - tackles social issues for two back to back tracks.

"Black Beauty" uses guitar riffs to drive it forward and Laurice gives an impassioned performance decrying drug addiction and abuse. And he and Big Bear Larry stretch their thespian muscles for the video.

"Please Mr Policeman" opens with asymmetrical gunshot effects and a vaguely dub beat to become Laurice's ode to Black Lives Matter. Laurice risks invoking the white savior trope but his sincerity makes it work. The lyrics are a hodge podge - "Please Mr Policeman, don't shoot the man I love" and "You're itching just to pull that trigger/Think it makes your ego bigger" - that feel like part of a larger storyline that isn't explained. That continues through an ill-advised pseudo-rap passage -"Some of you cops just want to kill/You just don't understand/Gay and black, brown or white, tell me this: how much more of this do you think we have to take?" - that is closer to narration than rhyming.

Laurice is fearless when it comes to bending genres to his will but the street eludes him. However he does create a tasty slice of pop rock with a video that should be required viewing before the next Pride Toronto board meeting. I wish there was a way to Clockwork Orange Sue Ann Levy into watching the "Please Mr Policeman" video on an endless loop. And Big Bear Larry may just be the fantasy I never knew I had of Meryl Streep playing Dirty Harry.

It's back to '80s pop (with an odd but compelling cockney accent) and smutty lyrics for "Pissed Off," where Laurice belts "Take me/I'm so horny/Have mercy." It gets wonderfully weirder with scifi/theremin sound effects kicking off "Space Case" and the fabulous lyrics "You're from Mars/I'm from Venus/What you wanna do?/Worship my penis?" and "Down on your knees/Doing the nasty/Something ain't right/Your touch is so ghastly." There is a video for "Space Case" that was released as a Halloween special, but this song is begging for a lavish erotic alien homo-extravaganza.

The video for "Bad Boy," starring Bobby Bissett of The Geektones, is Laurice and Larry's first (to my knowledge) attempt at narrative not starring Laurice himself. Because of Laurice's in your face and refreshingly gay sensibility, I wasn't keen on the video's heterocentric focus, but the track has a Ramones-esque pop punk beat and some tasty guitar licks. Again Laurice's voice is processed and, combined with the use of his lower register for the hook line, "Bad Boy" loses some of the punch it should have. After all it is the album's eponymous song.

Laurice heads in another direction singing "Whatever you want/Whatever you need/Just sext me" over a '50s surf music and country mash up for "Sext Me." It is delicious and packed with double entendres. While shifting genres, and before the bonus track remake (clearer and more poppy) of "When Christine Comes Around," Laruice tackles, with what sounds like a live band, the aforementioned 12 bar blues number, "Bleedin'."

Though it doesn't fit the thematic thrust of Laurice's rock n roll album concept (other than the blues birthing rock n roll), "Bleedin'" is the outstanding track. Not so much for the content but for the sheer glorious joy of hearing Laurice's voice, unprocessed and unfettered, take flight. There are high notes that are nailed sweetly, low notes that growl, and the pop sheen glimmers with a grit that is very rock n roll.

Over his lengthy career, Laurice has exhibited a restless experimentation and couldn't write a song without a catchy hook if he tried. Bad Boy fits right into his eclectic oeuvre. A lot of camp bolstered by raunchy guitars mixing pure pop pleasure with infectious fun. Long may Bad Boy Laurice make music of whatever genre or style he cares to honour.