Mp3 of the decade: Bang Camaro

We cannot tell you how psyched we are to post this song. We cannot tell you how psyched we are that this band exists. Warning: unless you spent many hours living 15 minutes away from New Jersey, obsessing over obscure sleaze-metal bands like Heaven's Edge, you may not lose quite as much of your shit as we do every time this song comes on. If it helps you feel better about yourself later, on several occasions we have mistaken the opening few seconds of this song for the MSTRKRFT remix of Wolfmother. In all of those cases, however, it quickly became apparent that this was not that song but instead a much, much better song.

Yes, BANG CAMARO are a metal band, and a fucking good one, too: not any of this NWOBHM-by-numbers shit like Early Man, not any of this dry, techie metalcore crap, we're talking pure 1987 confused headbanger brilliance. Like metal from that period right after Master of Puppets came out when nobody could figure out whether they were supposed to go glam or turn thrash, whether they were supposed to be tough or sweet and ended up coming out a little of both.

Also, they don't have a lead singer. Instead they've got 20. All singing at the same time. Through the whole song. You've never heard anything like it.

The thing that will drive metal kids nuts is that the entire band is drawn from the ranks of trendy hipster rock bands. Believe us, we'd like to yell "False metal!" and beat them up, too. But dude: they're fucking good. Forget for a minute that Bleu has written a song for them, and that the guys belting out harmonies from the lip of the stage spend most of their nights hanging out at the Pill or something. It turns out that buried in bands like Taxpayer, the Bon Savants, the Vershok, Distinguished Members, and Reverse are a legion of Manowar fans. "Dude, metal fans abound," says Bang Camaro mastermind Alex Necochea, "they're everywhere. It just wasn't cool to like metal again until 15 minutes ago."

Remind us why we're not punching them in the face again?

Yes, they're a spot-on tribute to '80s metal -- like Headbangers Ball meets Polyphonic Spree -- but there's something genuinely, nauseatingly original about the concept. "I like to think of us as Boston's answer to Broken Social Scene," says Alex. "We're a collection of local musicians from all different bands, and our vocalists offer a diverse cross-section of the local scene. It's a completely collaborative effort which usually begins with a song concept, what it'll be about and what it will sound like, and then we set about coming up with something that embodies that concept as best we can. So far it works every time."

If you believe their Web site, BANG CAMARO are running around the northeast rocking upstate New York roadhouses and holding camaro-of-the-week contests. We've also heard that they've played all of one show, which resulted not only in the arrival of police but in the house it took place in being condemned. Plans call for a steady release of a half-dozen singles (including this one) by year's end, and an album at the end. Tomorrow night they play their first club show ever at the Paradise. You'd have to be a bigger jackass than us not to show up.

DOWNLOAD: Bang Camaro, "Push Push (Lady Lightning)"

-- blurb scribbled by OTD, who is too busy hanging with Bill Clinton and Ted Conover to post. Cami's just here babysitting for a couple days.