Chicago READER
by Peter Margasak
With an impressive variety of homemade electric guitars, drums, and various
invented instruments--including a jury-rigged electric kazoo, on which
member John Boyle is something of an Ayler-esque virtuoso--the group began
meeting on a weekly basis for fun and catharsis.... By dint of the group's
electric instrumentation, the NSB sound veers toward ultrachaotic rock,
but beneath the surface one can hear wild and woolly rushes of interactive
improvisation. On top of it all are the nonsensical, Beefheartian vocals
of Bill Exley. Whether on "No Canada," his classic national antianthem,
or "What About Me," his recent ode to the Me Generation ("I want to teach
the world to sing--my song!"), his seemingly stream-of-consciousness rants
are remarkably effective.