FREAKY THINGS & MIZZ HYDE – ‘BULLIES GET BEAT’ (INDEPENDENT RELEASE) HARD ROCK
RELEASE DATE 02-02-24
REVIEWED BY: THE ROCK ‘N’ ROLL PREACHER
This is a release that is very close to my heart, as it deals with the effects of bullying. When I was at boarding school, I was bullied and abused mercilessly for five long and hateful years, and to my eternal shame, I never fought back – which is something I regret, as to this day I suffer from acute depression and Complex PTSD as a result. This song is a perfect and fiery riposte to the sort of cowards who tortured people like me – and I salute Mizz Hyde for taking a stand on this matter.
As I have sort of explained, the lyrics for ‘Bullies Get Beat’ were penned by Voodoo’s very own Candy Roxx (Mizz Hyde), and are a savage and venomous assault on bullies and the culture of fear they love to create. Now I have no idea if Candy/Mizz Hyde has written lyrics before, but her she unloads her pain and fury with vicious and righteous fury – as she rages “You’re just a fool, so to hell with you, you’ve no idea what I’m gonna put you through, the laughs and jokes with no means to an end, maybe I’ll start with your so-called friends”. Honestly? This is an anthem in waiting for those who have been wounded by their tormentors, it’s simply brilliant!
Alice Cooper could not have done better than this, and I say that as a huge compliment, as musically it could be something from his towering ‘Brutal Planet’ album. The musicianship and delivery is top notch, the vocals are spat out with genuine rage, and aurally and thematically are very close to Da Coop at his best (another massive compliment).
The music is provided by Joe Spiller and Chuckie Arlund of the band Freaky Things who are based in Kansas and Nashville. Joe spits put hr vocals with visceral fury, while Chuckie provides all the instrumentation, and also produced the track. The song has a genuinely eerie and malevolent feel to it, Chuckie’s creeping riff sort of slithers along, loitering with insidious intent, waiting for Joe’s voice to assault and taunt the stupid and blunderingly unwitting bullies that are his target. I genuinely LOVE this song, it makes me feel better somehow, saying the things I wish I’d actually had the strength to say when I was the victim all those years ago.
Thank you to Candy Roxx/Mizz Hyde, Joe Spiller and Chuckie Arlund, for creating this very special song, which for this writer, feels like a rallying cry for the beaten-down, emotionally/psychologically wounded … as Warrior Soul’s Kory Clarke once sang in the song ‘The Losers’ – “Cause I think you’re beautiful”. Bloodied but unbowed and unbeaten – as the ‘Bullies Get Beat’ lyric goes: “You’re a liar with hollow eyes, now watch this demon cut you down to size – you’re a bully and bullies get beat!” Gotta drink to that, yeah!