In most pro wrestling matches, the clothesline is a strictly transitional move, not the climax of the fight. You stick out your arm and run at someone, and that person falls down. It's not that serious. But the big Texan John Bradshaw Layfield's Clothesline From Hell was a different story. As with fellow Texan Stan Hansen, Bradshaw's lariat looked like it took people's heads off. Opponents sold that move like it was an apocalyptic event, and commentator Jim Ross made a meal out of the phrase "Clothesline From Hell." Bradshaw himself went through lots of incarnations -- wrestling cowboy to occult henchman to beer-swilling brawler to evil cowboy-hat tycoon -- but he never lost the Clothesline From Hell. Now, there's a new Jobber song named after that move.
Later this week, the wrestling-inspired New York grunge rockers Jobber will release their full-length debut Jobber. To The Stars. It's a good one. We've already heard Jobber's singles "Summerslam," "Nightmare," and "Pillman's Got A Gun." Today, they share the catchy fuzz-bomb "Clothesline From Hell." It's not a song about catching a literal gigantic bicep to the throat, but it might be about catching a metaphorical one. Here's how frontwoman Kate Meizner describes it:
"Clothesline From Hell" is about learning to emotionally detach from my job and draw clear lines to protect your personal time. "I only come here to get paid" is the thesis of the song -- the mantra I have to repeat and internalize when the 9:00 to 5:00 grind is really getting to me, or when my job begins to feel more like an identity and starts impacting my self-worth. Internalizing the mantra and protecting this boundary is the only way for me to maintain any semblance of sanity. Musically, I was inspired by Queens of The Stone Age in the groove and structure.
Check it out below.
Jobber To The Stars is out 08/22 on Exploding In Sound. I just watched Bradshaw do commentary on Triplemania over the weekend, and I did not really miss the way that man called matches.
