Sex Music

Although they never did become household names, as some over-enthusiastic supporters once predicted, at the turn of the new millennium the Toilet Boys ruled Manhattan; setting audiences ablaze with their pyrotechnic, Kiss-inspired stage shows and thrilling, 21st century glam rock, while grabbing countless headlines thanks to frontman Miss Guy's risqué androgyny. But as their novelty value and local celebrity gradually dissipated, amid one too many independent album releases lacking proper promotional support, the group began to splinter, finally calling it quits when their flaming stage antics ("flaming" as in real fire) came under federal scrutiny following the tragic fire that claimed 100 lives during a Great White concert in Rhode Island. And so, it's an incomplete and not entirely convincingly authentic Toilet Boys lineup (composed of Guy, guitarist Sean, and drummer Eddie) who reunited some four years later to assemble 2007's Sex Music from the demos they'd abandoned before going their separate ways -- plus one new composition titled "Drug of Choice." As a result, resurrected paeans to hard rock, glam bubblegum, and sex (naturally) like "Nothing to Lose," "Let's Do It Again," and the title track (featuring a radio request intro supplied by longtime supporter Debbie Harry) contain most of the familiar sonic hallmarks that fans would want to hear, but rarely lived up to the Toilet Boys as they were known at their peak, when they were bursting with incendiary confidence and lewd inspiration. Album highlights "Gimme Everything" and "Gods & Monsters" actually come close, however, and even though a closing trio of remixes (rounding out what would otherwise have been a rather short LP) will likely be lost on most of the band's predominantly hard rock constituency, at least Sex Music suggests that the world is far better off with a semi-functional Toilet Boys than without any Toilet Boys at all. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia