Bang Tango

Psycho Café

ROCK CANDY Right band, wrong place, wrong time.

There were very few bands crawling around LA’s Sunset Strip that looked likely to dodge the grunge wave when it hit. Guns N’ Roses had their last-gang-intown vibe and were simply too big to fail, but for almost everyone else it was back to the day job/mum’s basement once Kurt Cobain’s familiar refrain rang out on his Fender Jaguar.

Bang Tango (today still a working band) were unlucky not to escape the cut. More handsome goth than gaudy glam, and looking like at least one of them knew his way around a switchblade, they were all PVC trews and tailored shirts slashed to the waist.

This album, now remastered, but no extra songs, and with new sleeve notes that tell a familiar tale of a Hollywood band getting their short-lived

break in 1989, is a reminder of why MCA Records bet on them. The MTV-heavy Someone Like You, the grinding Attack Of Life, the louche, inventive (read: best song on the album), slowcrawling Wrap My Wings all sounded like touchstones of a band headed for arena rock. Until they weren’t.