Sleaze. Everybody knows that, in theory, it's a very bad thing. After all, what sort of self-respecting person would go to a sleazy nightclub, or watch a sleazy television programme, or listen to sleazy music. The answer to all three, of course, are the sort of people that live in caravans, eat chiko rolls for dinner every night, are unemployed for the express purpose of getting their daily dose of "The Jerry Springer Show" at lunchtime, and think that AC/DC are the best band ever. Incidentally enough, these sort of people are where I suspect The Tremors will find their most loyal audience, seeing as they are a very sleazy-sounding group indeed.

"Cash Up Front, No Kissing" is a side-project manned by something of a who's who of Brisbane indie talent, and led by Geoff Corbett, formerly of hillbilly-rockers Sixfthick. Their sound is very similar to fellow sleaze-garage rockers like The Casanovas, in that it's pretty shallow, very unsubtle, and at times so cheesy that it'll make you cringe. All of that aside though, these guys still manage to create some interesting tunes, in between all the posing and posturing.

To indicate what this album is all about, check out the second track, entitled Straight. There is some serious guitar riff action here, in addition to the multi-person vocals injecting some passion and energy into the track. Bad Teenage Poetry, which follows on immediately afterwards, is another good indicator of the band's domain, in addition to being probably their most radio-friendly track. It's dirty, uneven, but has just enough of a brash swagger to carry it through.

Unfortunately, to borrow a phrase that the band would probably be fond of, The Tremors blow their load too early. Not many bands can sustain the intensity and interest of their music into the second half of their albums, especially not when they've got such a narrow gimmick as this band does. The Tremors are a particularly bad example though, because by about the sixth song, you've heard about all they have to offer. There's only so much of Corbett's wailing that you can listen to, and even a few experiments, like putting Eleanor Logan on vocals don't succeed in re-igniting interest in what's going on.

The Tremors are a band that have their time and place, but the time is "at irregular, widely spaced intervals", and the place preferably isn't in my stereo. That's not to say that there won't be people who get something out of this, but the band's range of appeal is quite narrow, and if the idea of an album full of sleazy, red-light-rock doesn't appeal to you, you probably won't like this album very much.