Tomahawk
Released: October 30, 2001
Best songs: God Hates a Coward, Sweet Smell of Success, Cul de Sac
They released their first album in late 2001 on Mike Patton's newly formed record label Ipecac Records. It was recorded in Nashville, TN where Duane was living at the time. The album has an underlying western-type vibe to it, but it is still pretty straight-forward for Mike Patton. This is most likely due to the fact that the band is being led by Duane instead of Mike. There are some weird vocal noises here and there from Mike, but there aren't as many layers of sound like you would find in a Mr. Bungle song. It is closer to Faith No More in that aspect. Of course, my favorite songs on the album are the ones that don't sound so standard or straight-forward.
 Mike Patton |
Duane Denison
|
Song: Flashback
The music sounds like a pretty normal rock song, but it has the twisted lyrics of a guy getting hypnotized and remember how his dad treated him like a little girl when he was a boy. Twisted lyrics always improve a song.
Song: 101 North
The fun times of a carjacking hitchhiking killer. The song itself isn't too exciting in my opinion because the music is pretty repetitive The one part I really like about the song is throughout it, Mike is yelling "shut up!" I find it funny.
Song: Point and Click
Slower, rhythmic song with heavy breathing leading into the chorus. It is pretty similiar in sound to the previous song, but I think the breathing makes me like it more.
Song: God Hates a Coward
I love, love, love this song. It would be the one I save from a burning house. 
It starts off with the slower, rhythmic pounding of the two previous songs, but then it just bursts into the chorus. The verses are sung through a megaphone. A much slower part is actually said very quietly without the megaphone, which is my favorite part of the song. It has the title of the song in it during that part. Then it is back to the megaphone. It also has the awesome lyrics, "Did you act like a fluffer? Yeah, ain't that enough?" That used to be a quote I had in my signature file.
Song: POP1
Very slow, sweet singing starts the song before the chorus kicks in really fast with the line, "This beat could win me a Grammy!" The next verse is sung super fast and you can barely understand what he is saying until he gets to the Grammy line. he's singing through the megaphone again. Besides the Grammy line, I have no idea what this song is about.
Song: Sweet Smell of Success
This used to be my favorite song on the album, before I decided I liked God Hates a Coward best. It will have to be my second favorite. It also starts out very slow with Mike dragging out words to just a guitar playing. It picks up slightly for the chorus, but is still pretty slow. I love his singing during the chorus. My favorite part is in the middle where it gets a little bit faster and has my favorite lyrics, "Playin' dominoes with tombstones/Found a graveyard in your drawer/Go and get yourself buried/'Cause your dead, you're dead, you're dead, you're dead." The end of that used to be another one of my signature quotes.
Song: Sir Yes Sir
This is a song that sounds like it could have been a Faith No More song–one of the songs on the later albums at least. It seems to be about military soliders in general, which you could probably guess that by the title.
Song: Jockstrap
It is a finger-snapping ditty that begins with lyrics about jockstraps and g-strings. It is hard to understand what he is saying most of the time since it is another megaphone song. The lyric pages that I can find are best guesses and I don't think they match what is actually being sung for the most part. If they do, I still can't figure it out.
Song: Cul de Sac
It has a little country twang to it along with what sounds like a xylaphone at the very beginning. I really like the way he sings this song so I enjoy it a lot, even though it is very short, like a cul de sac! =)
Song: Malocchio
He isn't singing through a megaphone, but he does sound like he is singing in a very empty room for most of the song until he is screaming "Chew it! Chew it!" over and over again. I was looking over the lyrics and it sounded like it was from the viewpoint of some rabid animal attacking its prey. I then wondered what the song title meant, so Google told me it means "Evil Eye" in Italian, which Mike Patton speaks fluently. I'm still not sure how that applies to the lyrics though.
Song: Honeymoon
Heavy bass line goes throughout the song with lyrics about a stalker (?) who kills someone else and then ends up in a mental institution all doped up possibly thinking that is their honeymoon.
Song: Laredo
Pretty standard-sounding rock song about an amateur trying to blackmail someone else while being extremely nervous. The chorus has the line of "The cat's in the bag and the bag's in the river," which is a line from some old black-and-white movie. I never knew it was from a movie, but one day while switching channels Jer and I stumbled across it right when a guy says it to another guy. We both said, "Hey!" and then looked at the movie title. I have since forgot the movie. I went searching for the movie and found it. It is a movie called Sweet Smell of Success from 1957. Funny thing is it has a line in the movie that says, "you're dead son. Get yourself buried." Ha!
Song: Narcosis
Instrumental that sounds like something that would be at the end of a cowboy movie.
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