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beats the hell out of me press and reviews

Revising History Reviews:
Get Out
Ziazine
Muzikman

Band Awards:
Best of Phoenix 1992
Best of Phoenix 1993

Reviews of Rolling Thunder:
Euphony Music News
More Rockin' Reviews
Chris Ayers - RPA Enterprises
Backflash

Reviews of beats the hell out of me - Metal Blade Release:
Album Network
UltraKill
College Music Journal

Reviews of beats the hell out of me - self release:
The Des Moines Register
Phoenix New Times
Grind Magazine

 ZIAZINE APRIL 2005

Beats the Hell Out of Me : Revising History : self-released
review by Brian Baker

Chandler quintet Beats the Hell Out of Me has a long and storied history, starting with their formation nearly 17 years ago. Products of MCC’s jazz program, the band (vocal-ist Mike Pistrui, bassist Aaron Stewart, guitarists Chris Bailey and Tom Coffeen and drummer Erik Rogan) explored the tension and commonality between jazz, punk, hard-core and metal, combining avant time signatures with extraordinary volume and energy. After a couple of self-released pieces in the early ‘90’s, BTHOOM was the first signing to Metal Blade’s Modern imprint where they released a pair of albums 1994-95, the second one produced by Ross Robinson. Standard music industry pitfalls caused the band to go on extended hiatus in 1996, but they got back together to assemble their Live album in 2003 as a fundraiser for the Julie Hurm-Tessitore Memorial Garden Bene-fit. Shortly after, they reunited to begin work on their new album Revising History, a set that shows all the power and promise of the band’s earlisest work. Recorded over the last year and combining songs written a decade ago with newly penned tracks, BTHOOM continue to play with a controlled abandon, improbably soundchecking their disparate influences - everything from Weather Report and John McLaughlin’s Mahav-ishnu Orchestra to Bad Brains, Talk Talk, King Crimson and Slayer - under their own singular sonic umbrella. “Down” chugs along on an emo/metal head of steam, “Check the Mirrors” offers up a relatively quiet Chili Peppers-meets-the Police reflection, and “Ongoing Criminal Investigation” proves the Bad Brains/Talk Talk reference is more than just lip service. If Beats the Hell Out of Me is looking for an entry point back into the big time, Revising History could well be the ticket.
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Besides being the best grunge / hard alternative / whatever band, these guys are tortured artists. With an official band photograph that is more camera motion than subject and a new CD with no proper names anywhere, the members of Beats the Hell Out of Me are major practitioners of the "We can't play the music game" pose.
In most cases, that would consign them to the might-have-been scrap heap. But musically, Beats the Hell Out of Me has a grip on something.
Tom Coffeen's fuzzy, driving guitar, Erik Rogan's throbbing drums and Michael Pistrui's shrieked vocals add up to a head-on mashfest of grinding grunge heavily influenced by the Seattle Sub Pop scene. but the group has an awareness of melody, lyrics and other musical niceties that grunge bands tend to forgo in favor of volume.
These guys are a killer live act, and their self-titled CD is worth having. Consider this: Beats the Hell Out of Me recycles Steve Miller's old "Shu Ba Da Du Ma Ma Ma Ma" groove in a less-than-subtle tune about police brutality. And gets away with it.
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While Tempe's Beats the Hell Out of Me doesn't call itself grunge - and probably never will - it's clearly the best punk / New Wave / grunge-rock band in the Valley. Signed by Metal Blade Records in August, Beats hopes its debut disc will be ready for release next spring.
Because of its members' varied back-grounds, the band's music is an odd and intriguing amalgam. Based on the kind of thrash sound that's made bands like Helmet famous, Beats (as the band is commonly known) lightens that heavy load with inventive lyrics, sampling and melody. Two band members, drummer Erik Rogan and lead guitarist Tom Coffeen, are trained jazz musicians, which gives the band a lot more rhythmic vitality than most single-minded, guitar-bass-drums groups.
What makes Beats unbeatable is its unpredictability. Lead vocalist Michael Pistrui, mild-mannered offstage, becomes a possessed beast onstage, as liable to jump off a stack of speakers as he is to moon the crowd.
Even more unexpected that its music is this band's abhorrence of violence. While most thrash bands love nothing better that to incite riots, Beats will quit playing and....
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Beats the Hell Out of Me
Rolling Thunder Music
Metal Blade

Yow! I really liked the last release from this Tempe-based five-piece but "Rolling Thunder Music" eats the last one alive. Musically, the band has progressed considerably. Their last album was like a fusion of Helmet and Fudge Tunnel. "Rolling Thunder" is a lot harder to classify because of a great deal of experimentation and that's why I liked it so much. The band isn't solely concentrating on heaviness, as in the past. The heaviness is still present but so is a hearty dose of psychedelic flavor (and sounds slightly reminiscent of local band Smack Jacket) with small tinges of Rage Against the Machine. The singing of vocalist Michael Pistrui has become significantly better and more forceful. There's all kinds of stuff on the disc, making for a fun, eclectic listen. On "Belly" Pistrui comes across like a really angry Eddie Vedder accompanied by swirly distortion hovering in the background. "G-Nite Lee Van Cleef" is an instrumental that sounds like it could be used for the background for a cult film along the lines of Love and a .45. "Freeway" is flat out supercharged pop. "19.5" is a slow psychedelic, bordering on gothic tune that is the equivalent of a toned down Hawkwind style musical mind fuck. Like I said, hard to classify, but all the tunes were well-performed making for an entertaining listen. Experimental doesn't always work, but it does in this case. Why can't more bands be this fun and creative? Beats the hell out of me.
-The Thunderman 
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This band first formed in 1991 in Tempe, Arizona as a quintet. With their psychedelic sound they in a way force the listener to sit up and take notice. This release shows off the talents of the vocalist Mike Pistrui as well as exhibiting the musicianship of the other four members. Beats the Hell Out of Me has shown their abilities in clubs all over the U.S. and have caught the attention of the general club patronizing public. Hopefully with this release of this album they can take this success to a national level outside of the clubs. The band has some industrial influences as well as many others which makes them challenging to put in any category. Throughout the album they maintain a heavy and intense groove and distressed vocals making the listener really appreciate their musicianship. They have just enough variety and tempo changes that one's interest is not lost even during the instrumental portion of their songs. Beats the Hell Out of Me is a band that proves you don't have to sound like someone else just to be noticed. 
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Eclectic Metal! It used to be a dirty phrase, one used to describe bands that just didn't understand the heavy metal formula: gallop along in open E or A with the occasional change to G, or for that extra demonic sound, B flat. Bands that didn't do that, well, didn't sell, got labeled "eclectic metal," and wound up in the used bin of the local record exchange . Beats the Hell Out of Me have successfully changed that stereotype with their second CD, Rolling Thunder Music.
The opening track, called "Track," has essences of rap-style vocals, but slowly reveal that the only reason to compare Beats to the questionable ghetto poetry is the raw, in-your-face style of vocalist Mike Pistrui. If he lived in the 'hood,' I think he would be extremely welcome with a mic in his hand - he has that belting confidence that a man with a message should have. Guitarists Tom Coffeen and Chris Bailey have bags of sonic tricks, and aren't afraid to show them off, either. Check out the track "Kazooka" for a good sample of melodic and powerful weaving. Don't count Aaron Stewart out; he anchors the whole mess while his six-string counterparts are defying the laws of gravity. Drummer Erik Rogan is well versed in the art of syncopation, and rarely allows himself to get locked into that snare-bass-snare rut that so many rock drummers fall into.
Questions abound, though; who's the acoustic tribute "G-Nite Lee Van Cleef" named after? After listening to cuts "Oar" and "Belly," can I still convince myself that this is heavy metal and not modern rock? And most importantly, why aren't there more bands like this around? Beats the hell out of me....
-Ralph W. Tetta 
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Beats the Hell Out of Me
Beats the Hell Out of Me
Metal Blade

How do we cope with the everyday aggravations of life? The answer - Beats the Hell Out of Me, an Arizona-based band with more than just a bad attitude. Their self-titled Metal Blade debut (and second record overall) is a tumultuous dissertation of skin-peeling rage and soul-sucking anomie capable of breaking bones with the band's sonic intensity alone. Not since Black Flag have we heard a band with such psychotic, anger-driven hatred of everything, including themselves. Beats the Hell Out of Me is a 10-song tirade against society, people, and the life-crushing ways of the world that refuses to be ignored.
From the opening teeth-grinding guitars of "Painfully," Beats the Hell Out of Me maniacally lumber through the album with the feel of a rampaging, yet not careless, killer on the loose. The songs seem to strain to the breaking point, led by Mike Pistrui's strangled vocal expulsions, sounding as if he is choking on the bile the world inflicts upon him. "Behind My Back" (our personal favorite), is the prize jewel of fiery display, and if radio isn't too chicken to play it, could be huge. Barely controlled yet excessively focussed, Beats the Hell Out of Me let you know exactly what's been done unto them and how they feel about it. Rendered with the unnerving deliberateness of a serial killer playing out his/her fantasy on some faceless victim, Beats the Hell Out of Me is an intimidating catharsis of darker emotions we all try to keep hidden lest we be judged harshly by "normal society." Get on Beats the Hell Out of Me before your listeners beat the hell out of you.
- Gerald T. Shaia - Loser at Large. 
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If Beats the Hell Out of Me were a single person then they'd have a single personality disorder. BTHOOM, y'see, are multi-layered to the point of schizophrenia and display savage bursts of raging angst that would have your average soul-searching bollocks Indie band wetting their pants. This is one heavy album!
Having said that however, this Phoenix five-piece have a glorious sense of humor. They may sound like Fudge Tunnel with Henry Rollins on vocals, they also have a picture of a houseboat for their band photo, and used to advise people on 'How To Clean Soiled Dental Chairs' in their press guff!
BTHOOM have taken Hardcore, Grunge, Punk, Rock and Blues, put it all in a big sack and beaten it with a large stick. The damage they inflict sounds superb.
-MORAT 
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You have to wonder how many Abbott and Costello-type conversations this band has caused with its name choice:
"So who's at Hairy Mary's Saturday?"
"Beats the Hell Out of Me."
"You don't know, huh?"
"No. Beats the Hell Out of Me."
And so on. So for the record the name of the band really is Beats the Hell Out of Me, and it really is going to be a HM's Saturday. It was named best hardcore band in Phoenix area by the city's alternative paper, and it is admirably, stridently, stubbornly independent. Examples? The band's publicity photo is a picture of a boat. Its press kit includes tips on how to clean soiled dental chairs. Its self-titled debut CD on Big Tick Records, lists no personnel.
The sound? An awful lot like cerebral noise mongers Helmet. Although if this were truly a just world, Beats the Hell Out of Me would have gotten the million-dollar deal (no offense, guys) and people would be running around describing Helmet by saying, "It sounds an awful lot like Beats the Hell Out of Me."
Both bands are rhythmically intense and are masters of stop-on-a-dime changes. Both bands have chops to burn and are influenced by jazz, especially guitarist Tom Coffeen. But to drive the comparison into the ground, Michael Pistrui's vocals are far more interesting than Helmet's Page Hamilton's Ozzy imitation. Pistrui swoops and howls in the same psychotic way the aptly name David Yow (formerly of Scratch Acid, now of the Jesus Lizard) does.
Most important, they're more ... well fun. Urban Angst and alienation is fun and no doubt helps members of Helmet get lots of dates, but there's something to be said for playing it a little looser, having a few laughs, which is what Beats the Hell Out of Me does. And in doing so, they perfectly bridge the chasm between urban and suburban, punk and thrash.
Just don't call it grunge. That term stopped meaning anything about the time Soundgarden's second album came out.
The band will be contributing to Hairy Mary's live compilation album. The show is set to start around 9p.m., with opening band to be announced. It cost $5 to get in. Hairy Mary's is at 200 S.W. Second St.
-Patrick Beach
Register Staff Writer 
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The most potential-filled debut disc to come out of the Valley in a long time, Beats' eight-song CD is a bizarre mix of jazzy electric guitar, driving, punk fuzz tones and Seattle-scene vocal screeching.
The finest amalgam of all these disparate elements comes in "Cops," a tune that blends all the aforementioned elements with a judicious, Steve Miller-sounding riff and some hilarious Tempe police radio patter. In "Baum," guitarist Tom Coffeen stretches out and displays some quick jazz chops. And the thrashy "Plug Me In" proves these guys can do Nirvana if need be.
Not everything here is completely cooked yet; there are lots of raw edges. Arrangements, for example, need work. But what this band lacks in finesse, it makes up for in raw materials and attitude. And those two factors are exactly what will make this band worth watching. -Robert Baird 
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If you're anything like me, when you think of BTHOOM, you think of alcohol. I'm not sure if it's 'cuz the singer's always falling down drunk every time I see them, or if it's 'cuz I'm falling down drunk every time I see them. One way or the other, their music induces drinking... or maybe vomiting, or both. I guess that's why I've always enjoyed seeing this Sun Club house band live. (Because I like vomiting?) Well, I now hold before me their new self-released CD and its not quite the stupor I so fondly remember BTHOOM being. Some songs sort of ramble off into nowhere with corny, masturbatory guitar solos. For instance, "Scuffle" spends the first full minute of the song with the masturbation in question, but from that point on the song pretty much jams. A few songs are the same way; half good and half bad, like "All the Way Home". Great crunchy rhythm , but it's got those damned solos, and what the hell, ...is that yodeling? Then there's "Plug Me In (The Frank Zappa Memorial BBQ) ...great song, but why wasn't I invited? There are songs on here however, that remind me why I like this band so much live. "Word After Word" and "Cops" make me wanna crack the seal on that 8-ball I've been saving for the weekend right now! - J. Koon  
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beats the hell out of me | beatsthehelloutofme.net LLC | P.O.Box 7551 | Chandler, AZ 85246 | soundorphan@cox.net
Chris Bailey - guitar, Tom Coffeen, guitar, Aaron Stewart, Bass, Erik Rogan, drums, Mike Pistru

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