NW Reviews: Bettie Serveert – Pharmacy of Love

February 6, 2010

By nickwan

Relatively unheard of here, Bettie Serveert is a Dutch band looking for a shot in the dark with their new album Pharmacy of Love. The obvious things about this band that might have their number: 1) old people 2) girl singers have saturated the airwaves already at the moment 3) sounds more like “mountain dew” rock rather than “monster energy” rock. But, with all these things staring them in the face, Bettie Serveert is a sweet surprise as far as music goes lately.

You might be thinking “Bettie Serveert? What is this? Robots?” But no, it’s not. It’s actually Dutch for something lame. It’s like an inside joke for Dutch. It’s as if I named my band “Madden’s Hail Mary”. Anyway, the band isn’t as lame as their name would suggest. The album itself is pretty good. Their single, “Deny All”, is somewhat misleading for the rest of the album since it tapers off slowly into more of a happy-indie-rock album rather than the aggressive sounding tone of their single. This works mostly in their advantage as they do keep consistent with a sound throughout their album.

As far as albums this year go, this might be the album that is stuck in a time machine. The music is distinctly not in conjunction with the music out right now. Maybe more of a 90s vibe with this band. Which makes sense since they were a band from the 90s. But the Bettie Serveert crew shouldn’t dismay at all. If Rob Thomas can put out a 90s pop album that sucks ass in 2009 then there’s no reason why a good band can’t put out a good 90s rock album in 2010. That’s mainly because… people like good music, and not bad music. I guess what I’m trying to say is that most of the time I’ll harp on a band for not trying to progress a scene forward, but Bettie Serveert doesn’t seemed concerned with that aspect of their music at the moment. I think they are really just playing what they play because that’s what they like playing. There is no strive for new direction, and when a band can figure that kink out then they have a lot more to work with than to work against.

The 90s time machine rock is a double edged sword in this case. When I said I usually harp on bands for not pushing the scene forward, I didn’t say I wouldn’t harp on these guys for not doing such sort. Yes, they aren’t concerned with the current music scene, but that’s their eliminating point. Who tours with a band like this anymore? There is really only a handful of bands that I think can tour with this band and be able to garnish support from… but it’s hard to justify forcing a band like Bettie Serveert into a touring situation with bands who are legitimately making a name for themselves with music more suited to the scene than Bettie Serveert. I’m not saying Bettie Serveert is the illegitimate child of the current music scene, but rather just a misplaced piece in a very large and confusing puzzle.

People who would like this band: people who like Rilo Kiley and An Horse. If you took Rilo Kiley and An Horse and made a band-child, it’d be Bettie Serveert. Others who would like this: people who like Third Eye Blind, people who watch Jersey Shore for drinking game purposes, people who will watch curling on the olympics this winter.