Steel Wolf is perhaps the raunchiest band to come out of Lithuania. Residing in Long Island, New York for the past twenty years, the band’s sound is a mix of trashy metal and punk rock with lyrics like – “You tell your girlfriend ‘GIMME HEAD!’ Now her brains are filled with lead! Aural sects at gunpoint!” I guess you can say these guys are like the Mentors but with actual musical talent and “Rhythm ‘N’ Booze” is their story.
This documentary takes a very straightforward approach at telling the band’s tale that often comes off as one of those VH1 “Behind the Music” shows. The bulk of this film is made up of interviews with the band, past and present members, as they tell their tales of drunken debauchery that surprisingly come off as rather tame. I think the problem here is that there’s too much talk going on and not enough footage of Steel Wolf in action whether it be the band on stage or getting hammered somewhere, which is one of the things they pride themselves on. They’re newest CD after all is called “Boozer Friendly” with bar brawl ready song titles like “Ripshit Rampage” and “Bloody Mary Sunday.” This is music to incite a riot and this film doesn’t completely capture that feel.
There are several clips of the band in action, but they’re not nearly enough. Let me recall another fine punk rockumentary – “Hated”. This classic film on GG Allin and the Murder Junkies was rife with interesting interviews, but was also complimented with plenty of prime GG turd flinging, crowd bashing action. I just think that “Rhythm ‘N’ Booze” could’ve stood to spice things up a bit with more footage of the band in their natural, drunken state, rather than sitting around telling war stories while sober.
Even though this film may be a little on the tame side, it still doesn’t change the fact that Steel Wolf ROCKS!
