The Wet Secrets
“Gritty, shambolic, exuberant, demented rock.” – Vue Weekly
The Wet Secrets, a dance rock six-piece from Edmonton, AB, dress up their scrappy, scathing outlook in impeccably tailored pop attire . Leave eyerolls and apathy to the others: The Wet Secrets’ buoyant brand of irony turns dysfunction into inspiration. Equal parts punk rock and halftime show, The Wet Secrets’ vibe is a fusion of the bass-driven grit of The Stranglers with the lurid surrealism of The B52s .
The first single from the new EP, “I Can Swing A Hammer” is confidence-in-a-can, an epic pep talk that works on and off the field. “I Can Swing A Hammer” is also the perfect rallying cry for a shiny new year, a high gloss time of best intentions and resolve . CBC Music included “I Can Swing A Hammer” in a recent Songs You Need To Hear, calling it a “jangly, catchy, fist-pumping anthem…a motto worthy to repeat every morning.”
Principal vocalist/songwriter Lyle Bell (also of Shout Out Out Out Out) lays swampy basslines through songs that balance misanthropy with empathy, caustic barbs with uplifting mantras . Cravat-wrapped drummer Trevor Anderson (also an award-winning filmmaker whose work has shown at Sundance, SXSW, Berlin and more) embodies the band’s high-art non-conformism . Kim Rackel and Emma Frazier contribute towering, dancing hornstacks on trumpet and trombone, with wildmen Paul Arnusch and Christan Maslyk rounding out the furry-hatted fray on keys, timbales, congas, sax . All six Secrets sing along, creating vocal harmonies galore.
I Can Live Forever covers a lot of ground in only four songs. Over the squirmy intergalactic synths of “If I Was A Camera,” the Secrets shout “Take off all your clothes,” a message that’s more about watching than doing, with a sweet geeky voyeurism . “Final Curtain for a Drama Queen” is a madcap staccato sendoff, a paranoid’s sweaty, horn-heavy fever dream. Final track “Quelle Surprise” is as close to a ballad as The Wet Secrets get, with a slinky 70s vibe, faraway vocals and tinkling off-kilter scales .
