By East Side Slim

King Clarentz – Day of the Supermodel – Super Sweet Records, 2008

King Clarentz, aka Clarence Brewer, makes music that is not for the faint-of-heart or those with delicate sensibilities. In fact, FCC content warning would likely be pasted onto any copies of the CD delivered to radio stations. The band on this CD consists of only 3 pieces, Clarentz, Bobby Lloyd Hicks and Andrew Ribotto, and the fellas crank out a jukin’, boogie-filled, heavy blues house party on Day Of The Supermodel. I struggled as to how to accurately describe the music of King Clarentz, but then came across the perfect description of it via Allmusic.com. My thanks to Allmusic.com for the spot-on description of the raucous music/persona that is King Clarentz.

From Allmusic.com: Biography by Cub Koda
Clarence Brewer, better known as King Clarentz around the Ozark mountain area where he's a fixture of the local scene, mixes the infectious boogie rhythms of John Lee Hooker with the edgier juke joint modalism of R.L. Burnside and up-to-the-minute lyrics for a blend that's both irresistible and unique in modern blues. Born in 1950, Brewer has developed a strong local following in the Ozarks as a blues performer, sculptor and folk artist. (His woodcuts adorn the cover art of his debut album.) Playing slide on a Sears and Roebuck Silvertone guitar while spinning tales of voodoo, politics gone wrong, the devil's den, fast food killing the populace, and bad women and whiskey, King Clarentz is a totally modern-thinking, cutting-edge bluesman who produces a sound that is positively crude and archaic. More than just a good-time performer with a backwoods style, Clarence Brewer is a modern artist with much to say and a beautifully raucous way of saying it.

1. Pea Vine Whistle – (Public Domain, arranged by Brewer)
--Clarentz has taken this old blues tune and turned it into an adrenaline-fueled blues-rock boogie. It’s a lot of fun, and would go over very well live. Also, it’s FCC-friendly.

2. Supermodel
--This is the CD’s title track, and the lyric pretty much follows the story line found in the CD’s comic book liner notes. The song is raw, heavy and ragged, as is most all of King Clarentz music, featuring loud guitars and primal rhythms.

3. Death Letter Blues – (Eddie “Son” House, Jr.)
--Clarentz takes on this Son House classic, and does a commendable job. Clarentz plays it very straight, but still in his own style, beating the living daylights out of his guitar; powerful stuff, indeed.

4. Alex Jones
--This song is spent railing against the G.O.P., the ultra-wealthy of the country, governmental control of the masses, and government cover-ups. The tune is based around a blues-rock riff, with a diatribe from Alex Jones – who is a radio talk-show host/ filmmaker who has been described as a paleo-conservative and conspiracy theorist - played over the top of the song, extending beyond the end of the music at the end of the track. This one is interesting, and actually, a lot of fun. The conspiracy minded folks out there will really enjoy this track.

5. Cooking With Your Nightdress On
--Well, this is where an FCC warning sticker to radio stations should probably appear. There’s no doubt quite a bit of Clarentz’ material is highly sexual in nature, and this track surely falls into that category. In this case there are no offensive words present, but the meaning is very, very clear. Hmm.. .you know, that pretty much describes 95% of today’s rap and new R&B music (R. Kelly anyone?) Well, if that can be broadcast on the radio, then this tune can, too! Musically, this tune is quite raw (and a lot of fun), full of electric slide guitar and impassioned singing.

6. Lonesome Ghost
--Here we have a suicide “ballad” about unhappy, unfortunate deaths, and how those people will have the lonesome blues as their ghosts will wander the Earth due the ending of their lives at their own hands. King Clarentz’ public service spot warning those troubled souls out there to not commit suicide…

7. Down On The Burying Ground – (Public Domain, arranged by Brewer)
--Wow, this tune is wild! Once again, Clarentz takes on an old blues, injects some nitro, and blazes down the Blues highway with it! He’s blowing the cobs out of this pre-War tune; nicely done.

8. Martha Stewart
--Uh-oh, here’s one to scare the prudes among you, and maybe cause you to scratch your head, saying: what was that?! A ménage-a-trio with himself, Martha Stewart and Dr. Ruth; something tells me that King Clarentz marches to his own drummer, so to speak…“about time to glaze those hams”…wow!

9. Rim O’ The Koochie
--If you don’t “get” the title, I’m not going to be the one to explain it to you. This is a slow-boiled bluesy rocker that would fail to make most radio playlists due to lyrical content – and due to the title of the song! It would definitely get the dancers up in a juke joint, though.

10. Hurricane Party
--A song about thrill seekers for sure, the title says it all. The tune is hard driving and very heavy and also falls into Clarentz’ sexually oriented songs. It’s a little more subtle than some of the other such songs on the CD, but the double-entendre is not Clarentz’ strong point. More like single-entendre in most cases.

11. New GOP
--We’ve got a slow blues here, but still very heavy; Clarentz is always heavy. King Clarentz makes it very clear in this song that he does not have much use for Republicans.

12. Empire State – (Public Domain, arranged by Brewer)
--King Clarentz takes on another public domain song here, and I think he does a fine job with it. I really enjoy his work more when his lyrical content is more, well, straight-forward, traditional, whatever… He’s got a great raw, juke joint feel to his music, which I dig. If only he could back off the Dr. Ruth type material a bit… This tune cooks on all burners, and may be my favorite cut on the CD.

13. Sunshine Rocker
--Well, if the last track cooked, this one burns! If you like wild and wooly blues rock, then this track is for you. It goes to prove that you only need 3 pieces (guitar, drum, bass) to tear it up!

King Clarentz is an interesting cat, make no mistake about it. His music is raw, powerful, and sometimes blatantly sexual. If you want to feel like you are in the middle of a juke or house party somewhere, load his CD into your disc player and let it spin. If you enjoy Johnny Winters’ work from the 1970s, there’s a pretty good chance you will dig what Clarentz and his band are sending your way. Personally, I enjoyed the majority of the CD quite a bit, but the more blatantly sexual songs did reduce my overall enjoyment of this album – some of the references tended to be a little too in-your-face, and I sure can’t play it in the car when my kids are with me. Some more word-play or double entendres might have remedied that situation; there’s nothing wrong with being clever. Before I forget, I should mention that production-wise this CD sounds great. It’s been nicely produced, engineered, recorded and mastered. Well, let’s rate this bad boy - and this one sure could be considered a bad boy! I’m going to give this CD, Supermodel, a rating of 3.0 on the STLBluesometer scale.


Lee Howland - aka "East Side Slim"