 
Any day now Me First And The Gimmie Gimmies will
release their eighth studio album ‘Are We
Not Men? We Are Diva’ which happens to be
their first album in nearly 6 years and through
the years the band have released albums featuring
covers of hits from the 60’s and 70’s,
show tunes, country music and even Japanese music
and now their new album features 12 songs originally
preformed by divas and is such a great listen.
‘Are We Not Men? We Are Diva’ features
covers of songs by the likes of Gloria Gaynor,
Paula Abdul, Cher, Christina Aguilera, Celione
Dion, Dolly Parton, The Carpenters, Lady Gaga,
Culture Club, Madonna, Donna Summer and Barbra
Streisand which is an impressive selection of
artists for Me First And The Gimmie Gimmies to
cover and as soon as they put their fast paced
punk rock energy into the songs they clearly make
them their own.
The album opens with a cover of Gloria Gaynor’s
‘I Will Survive’ and as soon as the
song opens with Chris Shiflett and Joey Cape’s
fast paced guitar riffs you just know that the
band are going to give ‘I Will Survive’
the big fast paced make over that it has been
crying out for and within moments Fat Mike comes
in with some big bouncy basslines whilst front
man Spike Slawson lays down his vocals like the
song was originally written for him.
‘Straight Up’ by Paula Adbul is a
song which the band cover in style because as
soon as the song kicks off it flows at such a
fast and furious pace with such a massive chant-a-long
chorus which is bound to cause a scene in the
pit at future Me First And The Gimmie Gimmie gigs.
Back in 1998 Cher released the irritatingly infectious
song ‘Believe’ and it spent far too
many weeks at the top of the singles chart and
I am sure still to this day the song is many people’s
guilty pleasure and now Me First And The Gimmie
Gimmies have gone and done a great cover of the
song full of fast paced guitars, banging drums
and a bit of auto tune to keep true to the original
version of the song.
The bands cover of Christina Aguilera’s
‘Beautiful’ is quite fun but Spike
Slawson doesn’t quite match the impressive
vocal range of Christina Aguilera but then again
that’s not what the band stepped out to
do as once again they have managed to make another
diva song sound like their own.
Celine Dion’s ‘My Heart Will Go On’
must be one of the most played songs in the world
especially when the song was featured in the movie
Titanic and also on the soundtrack so Me First
And The Gimmie Gimmies deciding to cover the song
was a good move as it is such a well known song
and for a matter of minutes we get to see Me First
And The Gimmie Gimmies in a slight serious way
as they add some slow drum beats to the song whilst
Spike Slawson slowly sings his heart out.
Towards the middle of the album there is a triple
whammy of gems as the band cover Dolly Parton’s
‘I Will Always Love You’, The Carpenters
‘Top Of The World’ and Culture Club’s
‘Karma Chameleon’ and each and every
one of these tracks were absolute infectious party
anthems back in their day and the punk rock twist
which Me First And The Gimmie Gimmies give to
the songs make them sound that little bit more
enjoyable.
Things slow down a bit for the bands cover of
Madonna’s ‘Crazy For You’ a
song which features an acoustic guitar and the
band singing full of melody.
Me First And The Gimmie Gimmies are easily the
best cover band in the world, with every album
release they take a style of music pick 12 of
their favourite artists and songs from that genre
and rework those songs to stay true to the original
whilst also making them their own and I feel that
with ‘Are We Not Men? We Are Diva’
the band have created their best album and in
the near future I would love to see them on the
live circuit where they play the album in its
entirety whilst also throwing in the usual fan
favourites for good measure.
5/5
Review by Trigger
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