From Handbook of the Union Universe

The Last Word
Leader: Alice Springs, Lady Cacophony, Dee Dee Diablo
Type:	Punk band
Base Location:	The Comet Club, Galaxy City
Known Coalitions:	N/A
Established:	2007
Disbanded:	Active, although not a supergroup in the traditional sense as some characters are members of other supergroups such as Silent Tempest
Background Information
A punk rock band made up of members who are also heroes - that's as complicated as it gets.
Resources
Funded by the band's new business manager Jay Reynolds/Crimson Archer. An album has now been released and is selling well.
OOC Information
The Last Word are available to play at most in game events and gatherings
In-Character Accessibility
Members can often be found in Pocket D. Dee Dee Diablo is accessible in character in the House of A threads on the Militia and Silent Tempest forums
External Links
http://watchmen.30.forumer.com

The Last Word started as an idea by Gorbaz for a bunch of young people who were a supergroup by day and a rock band by night. Although no longer an active supergroup The Last Word rock on adding colour to roleplay events and the atmosphere in Pocket D. The band released their debut album Greetings from the Gutter on Novermber 30, 2007.

Contents 1 Mission Statement 2 Member Roster 2.1 Founders 2.2 Band Members 2.3 Former Band Members 2.4 Guest Artists 3 Headquarters 4 Resources 5 Group History 5.1 Slip of the Tongue tour launch concert at Pocket D 5.2 Performance at the Angel Foundation Charity Ball 5.3 Rock Against the Rikti 5.4 Hell Night 5.4.1 Preview 5.5 The Review 5.5.1 Part One 5.5.2 Part Two 6 Discography 7 Greetings from the Gutter 7.1 The Album 7.2 Tracklist 7.3 Credits 7.3.1 The Band 7.3.2 Guest Artists 7.3.3 Thanks 8 Musical Influences 9 Contact

[edit] Mission Statement

"We rock and we rule!"

[edit] Member Roster

[edit] Founders

• Lady Cacophony, vocals
• Dee Dee Diablo, bass guitar/vocals/songwriter
• Alice Springs, drums

[edit] Band Members

• Nathalie Brissaud, keyboards
• Silvia, guitar

[edit] Former Band Members

• Lance Simmons, lead guitar
• Samantha Carter, keyboards

[edit] Guest Artists

• Slut Angel (There are unconfirmed rumours that this was in fact the hero Love Angel)
• White Vampyr - The Gothic Overtones lead singer Suzi White provided additional vocals/guitar on the track Mother's Ruin on the band's debut album Greetings from the Gutter. She also joined the band on stage during the Hell Night gig.
• Nene McAllister joined the band on stage for the climax of the Hell Night concert at the Comet Club. She also provided a very personal vocal performance with her girlfriend Dee on the recording of Mrs. Loverboy on the band's album Greetings from the Gutter.

[edit] Headquarters

The Comet Club, Galaxy City. A seedy rock club frequented by Hellions and the like. Has a reputation for trouble as well as breaking new underground rock acts. The Last Word perform their most weeks in return for the use of the apartment space above the club where several of the band members live.

[edit] Resources

The band has recencly been taken on by business manager Jay Reynolds/Crimson Archer who has funded new equipment as well as the recording of a demo and eventually an album. This album has now been released and is selling well.

[edit] Group History

[edit] Slip of the Tongue tour launch concert at Pocket D

Stigma Magazine Online

• The full review and interviews with the band will be published in next month’s Stigma mag, published by the Paragon University Student Press

“Infamous Last Words!” The Last Word at Pocket D Thursday, May 24 Review by Chance Mullet

The buzz surrounding Paragon-based outfit The Last Word has been building for some time. With a reputation based more on their ability to raise hell than their music, tonight in the upstairs bar of Pocket D was when the band answered the critics and earned the first recruits of what looks to become a legion of fans.

Refusing to be pinned down to one music genre, The Last Word ride the razorblade between hard rock and punk metal, sometimes straying into melodic pop territory before turning the volume up to eleven and releasing another infectious rock riff.

Veteran of Dead Birthday Clown and Hex Addiction, bass player and lyricist Dee Dee Diablo is the one recognisable face on stage. The music press branded her burnt out at 21, and The Last Word is perhaps the last chance saloon for Diablo. When she took to the stage and placed a bottle of Jack Daniels next to her amp it raised the question of whether she was going to bring her A game. But Diablo didn’t disappoint, along with Alice Springs’ machinegun drumming, her heavy five-string bass is the engine which drives The Last Word on its high energy journey.

Fronting the band is Diablo’s partner in crime, the other half of the “Chemical Sisters”, Desirée Bell. Her hypnotic vocals add a beauty and eloquence to Diablo’s lyrics of the gutter. Bell’s vocal range is staggering, making you almost fall in love with her with a heartfelt melody before threatening to make your eardrum’s bleed when The Last Word take the safety off and show they can rock with the best of them.

On lead guitar is Lance Simmons, a new face in the music scene here in Paragon, and The Last Word‘s token male member (which may explain why the other members of the band usually refer to him by names associated with a male body part). Displaying a refreshingly flexible style, from the screeching rock licks to the reflective moments during the bands rare times of restraint, he draws raw emotion from the instrument, adding the final embellishments that make the band's sound complete.

Last but not least, we're left with Samantha Carter, the keyboard/pianist for the group. Throughout the evening she gives flesh to the music with raw chords and harmony parts to each of the pieces making the band a smashing success.

The gig looked to have ended prematurely when Diablo left the stage and took refuge at the bar after a disagreement with lead guitarist Simmons. But as the song came to an end, with encouragement from Bell and the punters, Diablo returned to the band for the high-octane finale.

Set list

Slip of the Tongue An anthemic rollercoaster ride driven by a relentless baseline and chugga-chugga guitar. Bell mesmerises the audience with a sordid tale of a one night stand that wants to be something more. Although, the first live airing of the song, the crowd were soon shouting along to the repeated hook “What we did was fun/Won’t say it was wrong/But you and me, honey/Was a slip of the tongue”.

My Fire Truck Haunting, seemingly steam of consciousness lyrics, pour from Bell like vocalised honey. But it’s really Spring’s turn to shine as her thunderous drumming gives this fire truck the engine of a freight train. As Bell sings the words “my fire truck”, Alice is beating out the message “this is my band, and we rock!”

Mother’s Ruin Diablo takes over lead vocals for this autobiographical meandering on abandonment and wasted lives. Her fears that her own talent could be squandered by inheriting her mother’s “alcoholic disease” are worn firmly on her torn sleeve. Carter's hauntingly dark keyboards give every heart-felt word resonance in this rare spell of vulnerability from Pargaon’s most in your face ensemble.

Chemical Burn Diablo and Simmons set the frantic pace, in a duel of dirty bass and screeching guitar, over the relentless pounding of Springs’ relentless drumming and Carter’s keyboard. Bell holds her own to deliver headstrong vocals over the cacophony. This is the Last Word’s celebration of rock and roll excess, from the heights of Saturday night to the never again rumination’s of Sunday morning. This has debut single written all over it.

F*** Buddy Pure filth. Bell and Diablo explicitly explain what they would like to do to each other, and random members of the crowd, after the gig. The lyrics spill into degenerate improvisation as each tries to put the other off. The smut is compounded as the girls muse over a bouncy sound thanks to Carter’s Elton John-esque, by way of the Scissor Sisters, keyboards that are here more akin to the commercial end of pop punk than hard rock

You’re in a Band? Bell spits out Diablo’s diatribe against everything she hates in the music scene. Lead guitarists, “c*ck rockers”, record companies, and even Celine Dion all get it with both verbal barrels. Bell’s staccato delivery is matched by Simmon’s frenetic riffs. He delivers an almost faultless guitar solo, an impressive feat given Bell and Diablo’s obscene gesturing and other efforts to break his concentration.

The Place Where You Are A change of speed for The Last Word as they almost threaten to enter rock ballad territory. Here, over Carter’s faultless piano, Bell shows just what an amazing vocalist she is, hitting what seem to be unattainable high notes. The almost sugary sweet lyrics take on a new meaning when you realise the place she is referring to isn’t on any map. The Last Word’s rock rollercoaster begins again, as each member seems to be competing to raise the roof with ferocious licks and infectious riffs, while almost inconceivably coming together as a whole that suggest those at Pocket D last night witnessed the birth of Paragon City’s next musical phenomenon.

[edit] Performance at the Angel Foundation Charity Ball

Stigma Magazine Online

“The Last Word Stripped Bare” The Last Word at the Silent Tempest/Angel Foundation Charity Ball Monday, July 9. Review by Chance Mullet

I have just returned from the least secret gig in secret gig history, and I want to tell you that it rocked. The rumor mill has been working overtime about The Last Word performing a set at a charity gig, but fans found it impossible to get tickets for last night’s high-class shindig. But Stigma Magazine was there and witnessed the latest step in the evolution of Paragon’s hottest, genre-blurring outfit.

This was The Last Word stripped bare. Without the melodic keyboards of Samantha Carter and the awesome vocal gymnastics of Desiree Bell, the performance was raw, brutal and frenetic. With the band’s songwriter Dee Dee Diablo taking on vocal duties with a schizophrenic tone jumping from raucous staccato to heart-felt, dirty emotion, The Last Word showed authenticity and maturity sometimes lacking in their early performances.

It usually takes the acquisition of a couple of mansions and a private jet before rockers start producing their worthy cause material. But Diablo has jumped the gun with the first of three new tracks performed last night. Other Side of the Street isn’t your usual charity track though, seething with Diablo’s trademark rage and language of the gutter. Backed by Alice Spring’s machinegun drumming and Lance Simmon’s screeching guitar riffs, Diablo enters an on stage confessional with a song about a girl, lost and abused on the street’s of Paragon. Losing her familiar **** you swagger, Diablo becomes the vulnerable girl in her song as she tells us about a young woman bouncing between one night stand to one night stand in search of the love never shown to her but condemned to always be on the “other side of the street.”

The Last Word didn’t disappoint the audience, although they didn’t exactly look like the band’s usual crowd, playing the high octane anthems Slip of the Tongue and Chemical Burn before Diablo got all introspective again with the heartrending diatribe of Mother’s Ruin.

The band rounded off the set with another brand new track. Turmoil is a Jekyll and Hyde of a number, with Diablo baring her soul in the versus about a girl at a crossroads between her self-destructive lifestyle and the looming danger of allowing herself to believe in the hope of change.

But after she has laid it on the line, she screams “But let’s talk about you again!” leading Springs and Simmons into a rollercoaster cacophony of rage.

[edit] Rock Against the Rikti

The Last Word

Vocals - Desirée “Lady Cacophony” Bell Vocals/Bass - Dee Dee Diablo Lead Guitar - Lance Simmons Drums - Alice Springs Keyboards - Special guest Slut Angel

The curtains drew back and the five members of The Last Word ambled on to the stage. Dee Dee Diablo placed a bottle of Jack Daniels next to her amp, earning several whoops of recognition, then stepped up to her mic.

“Hey Paragon. We’re The Last Word and everything you’ve heard about us is true.”

She launched into the frenetic bassline of the band’s anthemic show opener Slip of the Tongue , soon joined by thrashing guitar riffs and thunderous drumming. Bell ran to the front of the stage, emitting a raucous scream that seems to shake the buildings foundations and announce that anyone not ready to rock should run for cover. The band’s fanbase must have been represented in the crowd they joined in singing the first chorus: “What we did was fun/Won’t say it was wrong/But you and me, honey/Was a slip of the tongue”.

There was no letting up with the second song. Thunderous base and screeching guitar launched the band into the hard and heavy Chemical Burn.

As the song ended, Diablo came to the front of the stage; she name checked each member of the band and thanked their special guest Slut Angel who was filling in on keyboards. This Slut Angel seemed quite flustered at something Diablo had said, waving her arms until the haunting guitar of Simmons signalled the start of Mother's Ruin. Diablo on lead vocals duty for this number, sang with a desolate, dirty emotion that seemed to resonate throughout the venue.

Diablo continued her soul bearing with the intro to Turmoil, until Bell screamed the accusational chorus and led the band into frenetic overdrive.

Although there were rumours of the band debuting a new song, they closed their triumphant set with the crowd-pleasing The Place Where You Are. Bell’s vocal gymnastics and the band’s relentless, frenetic sound merging to create a cacophony that had almost every hand punching the air.

[edit] Hell Night

[edit] Preview

Stigma Magazine Online Tuesday, October 17, 2007

Out of the Gutter – Exclusive The Last Word album and gig news. By Chance Mullet

PARAGON punksters The Last Word have announced that their eagerly anticipated debut album is to be entitled Greetings from the Gutter.

After a series of acclaimed live appearances and band member Dee Dee Diablo attracting personality maulings in the media that money can’t buy, the release date for the album has finally been unveiled as November 30 just as interest in the band is reaching fever pitch.

And more exciting than even that, after several weeks locked in the studio, The Last Word are to play an one off gig at the Comet Club, Galaxy City, on October 31, to showcase classic album in waiting Greetings from the Gutter.

As well as the Word’s anthems and fan favourites Slip of the Tongue, Turmoil, Chemical Burn, Mother’s Ruin and The Place Where You Are, the band have announced that they will play live for the first time four new tracks written especially for the album.

Diablo said: “This album is really a journey. It was important that we included the songs we are known for as they mean a lot to us as a band. But in the last six months I feel I’ve grown both as a person and a songwriter, and these new tracks reflect that. Hopefully our fans will come to love these songs just as much as stuff like Slip of the Tongue; and if they don’t they can always go **** themselves and listen to Avril Lavigne.”

The titles of these new tracks have been confirmed as Crucifixion Anxiety, Gimme Hell, Mrs Loverboy and Intravenous Redux. The latter is surely The Last Word’s touted reworking of Dead Birthday Clown’s breakthrough hit Intravenous, which the Clown’s front androgyne Ethan Ink recently confessed was penned by Diablo during her brief stint with the band.

Before their hiatus, fans had seen the band appear with a depleted line up, and there are rumours that new Last Word members will make their debuts alongside the band’s backbone of Lady C, Diablo and Alice Springs.

Guest appearances by punk queen Suzi White, who has been working in the studio with The Last Word recently, and Diablo’s special friend Nene MacAllister, of Nene and the Nines fame, have also been rumoured but not confirmed.

The gig takes place on Wednesday, October 31, at 7pm. Tickets are available from The Comet Club, Divinyl Sounds outlets, and the Paragon University student welfare office in Steel Canyon.

[edit] The Review

[edit] Part One

One Hell of a Night

Review of Hell Night concert by The Last Word plus support

Part One

By Chance Mullet.

“NEVER go back.” Whoever coined that phrase obviously didn’t pass on his wisdom to The Last Word who chose their old stomping ground of the Comet Club in Galaxy City to finally unleash their much anticipated debut album on the world. The band, who’s following has been swelling over the past few months as much for their off stage antics as their music, could have filled a venue twice the size. But for this self-confessed fan boy, who first heard the band make a raucous, drunken Friday night crowd stop fighting and ****ing each other long enough to witness the fiery statement of intent Slip of the Tongue eight months ago, there is no better venue for Paragon’s riot girls.

The venue, the crumbling walls seemingly held together with the faded posters of the hundreds of bands that have played there, was packed to capacity. The Hellion element usually dominant in a The Last Word crowd was present but diminished. The band has picked up a legion of new fans among students and music fans, and there was a healthy smattering of heroes among the sea of flesh. But the underlying threat of violence at a The Last Word gig, swimming beneath the sweaty excitement like a tiger shark was as palpable as ever.

But there was something else; an unspoken challenge to Diablo and company to put their money where their loud, dirty mouths are and deliver the album we all hope they are capable of.

But before The Last Word took to stage the crowd were given a tasty appetiser giving a hint that the night was going to be something special.

As the lights on stage came up for the opening act, the crowd gasped as Suzi White, star singer formerly of the Gothic Overtones stalked confidently to centre-stage. Dressed completely in white leather, from boots to long trenchcoat, she took the mic like she was embracing an old friend and without any hesitation, belted out a stunningly original version of the Rolling Stones classic Paint It Black. Her ethereal voice giving the lyrics a fresh potency as she made the song her own.

For the barest instant, it seemed as though the crowd was actually stunned by the performance as she finished, causing a half-second pause before the audience gave a rapturous response. As the music began for the next song, a hush once more descended as Suzi sang a previously unheard new number called Beyond The Dark.

A dark and heavy bassline gave the song plenty of rock appeal, but White’s soaring, hauntingly melodic voice wove pure magic into the number. If this song is anything to judge by, Ms White has grown still further as a singer and songwriter, and her next album, which the rumormill says is currently being written, will indeed be something to eagerly await.

White obviously subscribes to the motto “leave them begging for more”, leaving the crowd awestruck by her two powerful numbers, and very much ready for the main event as she said a simple thank you, bowed deeply just once and walked off stage.

The stage remained in darkness for several moments. Long enough for the crowd to get restless and vocal. Then from the darkness came one of the most familiar baselines of the last five years. The crowd seemed confused at hearing the opening Dead Birthday Clown’s Intravenous. Then the baseline stuttered and stopped. And started again before stuttering again. For many, this reviewer included, it seemed like the gig was going to come off the rails before it had really begun. Questions about the girls’ hard living lifestyle were raised in the mind before a single spotlight illuminated Dee Dee Diablo in the centre of the stage. Trademark low-slung leather trousers and even lower slung five-string bass in place.

“I never liked how that ****ing song started anyway,” she said to the audience. “This is how it’s supposed to sound.”

She launched into a thrashing, kinetic baseline that seemed to gut punch every member of the crowd. The stage lights came up and Alice Springs added thunder to thunder with her own brand of drumming by way of a machine gun.

Alice wore her traditional outfit of baggy blue jeans and suede red leather jacket, which is starting to look more and more battered with each performance. Her trademark wrap-around shades, as ever, keeping her eyes hidden away.

The Last Word has always had one of the tightest rhythm engines in Diablo and Springs, from the off they raised their game to a new level with a sound that shook the building to its foundations.

The band’s new additions create a more striking overall stage presence. The Last Word always looked like a bunch that would start a bar fight – now they look like they’re capable of finishing it.

Former Human Alternative fronter Nathalie Brissaud is an imposing figure, dressed in a revealing top, Freddy Kruger red and black striped tights, leather mini-skirt and knee-length boots. She was obviously happy with her newfound band as she radiated a palpable pleasure to be on stage. Taking Hell Night more literally than the rest of the band, she had decked out her keyboards in pumpkins and stylised flying witches and cobwebs.

She played a pivotal link throughout the night, performing complex solos between songs and for an extended period when Diablo and Lady C decided to put in drinks orders with the bar staff at about the halfway point of the gig.

The other new gun was billed simply as Silvia. The guitarist, who appears to have undergone extensive body modifications and tattooing to give her a feline appearance, held her own against the more experienced members of the band. Diablo seemed to square up to her a few times, and given her labelling guitarists as “on stage masturbators” it remains to be seen whether the red-haired thrasher will last longer than previous on stage masturbator Lance Simmons.

When the band beating out the well-known refrain of Slip of the Tongue, a faint tone could be heard above the music, steadily growing in intensity. Desiree Bell, preferring to go by the name Lady C these days, entered the stage howling her presence into the microphone. She boldly strode to the edge of the stage, still keeping that high-pitched note, where she stood in a defiant stance as if to dare the audience to storm the stage. She paused, seemingly takes great pleasure from the massive pounding from the abused speakers. She caressed herself and the microphone as the band turned the intensity up to eleven. When it seemed the speakers couldn’t take any more punishment, Lady C threw the microphone into the crowd and starts to sing.

It takes balls to open a gig with what amounts to a cover version. Even bigger balls to play a song synonymous with a more successful band. But the girls of The Last Word have balls as big as boulders, and they have them pressed firmly to the wall of rock.

Almost unrecognisable from Dead Birthday Clown’s Intravenous, The Last Word’s Intravenous Redux is a boneshaking, heartstring tearing account of desperation and dependence. Stripped of the original’s emo angst, the lyrics takes on a new resonance when Lady C blasts them out with equal measures of self awareness and loathing.

The doctor says you’re killing me

But he don’t understand how you’re thrilling me

Getting more of you is how I spend every waking day

Only a fool can’t see the scars of needing you

Every breath that wants to be breathing you

But you’re the only thing that takes the pain away.

Without a second the band roll into one of the most recognisable intros from the past few months. A raucous cheer erupted in the audience as they recognised Slip of the Tongue. This is the band’s anthemic rollercoaster and tonight everyone wanted a ride. Backed by a relentless baseline and frenetic guitar, Lady C tells the now familiar tale of a one-night stand who wants to be something more. The crowd sand along to every word, competing with the vocal power of Lady C herself when it came to the hook:

What we did was fun

Won’t say it was wrong

But you and me, honey

Was a slip of the tongue.

And the ride didn’t stop there, with The Last Word ripping through Chemical Burn, Turmoil and Other Side of the Street. The dirty, frenetic bass of Diablo and the chugga-chugga guitar of Silvia grounded by the melodic platform of Brissaud’s keyboards.

If the gig had stopped there it would have been a triumphant kick in the balls to announce the band’s album. But The Last Word aren’t into half measures, and the latter half of the gig raised the stakes with new material and reworkings of two of the band’s most respected songs.

[edit] Part Two

One Hell of a Night

Review of Hell Night concert by The Last Word plus support

Part Two

By Chance Mullet

THE second half of Hell Night began with a stream of overlapping news reports beneath a wavering hum of radio static. Diablo leant into her mic with the swaggering confidence of the rock icon she is fast becoming. And with switchblade syntax she speaks the opening of The Last Word’s first all new song of the night, Crucifixion Anxiety

“It’s crucifixion week on Channel 69

Now a word from our sponsors

F*** you!”

With the expletive, Diablo’s partner in crime Lady C joined her on stage. By the time she reached the centre, The Last Word rock engine was firing on all cylinders and she wailed out the first new lyrics from the band in months:

Once bitten, shame on you

Twice bitten, f*** you too

Latest victim of your persecution

Here I am, this week’s crucifixion

Roll up, come on, come and see the show.

A two faced, broken girl, a silent rodeo

Here’s the subject of this week’s new inquiry

Tie your words in knots, but you’ll never bind me.

The truth hurts, but hell’s for you

Don’t ya know, the devil always gets her due.

Dear lord here I am, it’s my darkest hour

Would you forgive me, if it was in your power

A prayer from a fallen angel in the world of men.

But ****er you dealt this hand - and I’d do it all again.

It doesn’t take a genius to work out this song is Diablo’s right to reply to the recent mauling she took in the New Paragon Inquirer. But lines like “Momma you failed me/Hurt more than the f*ckers that nailed me” and the repeated word “crucifixion” in the chorus suggest that there are more demons are being exorcised in the song.

The tone then changed dramatically. Past the halfway mark, it was time for the keyboards of Nathalie Brissaud to take the lead. A lighter, bouncy tone, almost straying into pop, was the order of the day. But despite the tone, the song Mrs Loverboy might end up being the band’s most controversial yet. The lyrics tell the story of a girl tired of her relationship who finds new excitement and satisfaction in the arms and bed of an older woman. The track is permeated with recordings of two women at the height of ecstasy, raising the obvious question of whether the moans and gasps belong to Diablo and her rumoured lover Nene McAllister. The song features the most explicit description of two women being intimate this reviewer has ever heard, and I subscribe to several gentlemen’s magazines and websites. With Diablo in particular having a strong following among teenage girls, one wonders if the band has gone too far and given critics another arrow to fire at them. But the band seem to welcome controversy like Michael Jackson welcomes pre-pubescent boys to sleepovers; and a The Last Word song that doesn’t offend someone is unimaginable:

You say that you love me

But your mom knows how to touch me

In places you can’t even find

Could show you how to **** me

Three minutes that won’t come back to me

You’re in my bed, she’s on my mind

You showed me what it means when they say love hurts

Only thing we have in common is ****ing things in skirts

You gave me STDs, she gave me joy

So ‘til you can be a better man, she’ll be my loverboy

Gimme Hell has the same anthemic quality of fan favourite Slip of the Tongue. A diatribe against Diablo’s perceived evils of the world. Another high-octane hit, with Silvia let off the leash to perform gritty guitar solos and play a game of one-up-womanship with Diablo’s pace-setting bass.

At this point, Diablo took off her famous skull n crossbones vest and wiped it across her brow and threw it into the crowd for a future e-Bay sale no doubt. And for the first time the reviewer noticed that, in her black leather bra, this is a leaner more ripped Diablo than we’ve ever seen and there were several whoops of approval for her honed, inked physique.

Now, Mother’s Ruin is a song that divides The Last Word fans. Some think it is indulgent and lacks the musical hard edge of their other work. Others, this reviewer included, think it’s one of the ballsiest, emotion wrenching songs ever written and destined to be a future classic.

Suzi White returned to the stage, sensationally dressed in a stylish red dress and with bright red hair to join with The Last Word for Mother‘s Ruin. The crowd seemed to really appreciate Suzi’s homage to Dee Dee in the notable change of style, and again the excitement lifted to a new high as the opening bars began.

With Suzi on acoustic guitar and Dee on vocals this could have been The Last Word being self-indulgent but there was one hell of a surprise in store.

Backed by Silvia’s haunting guitar and Brissaud’s dark toned keyboards, Diablo sang the song with a desolate, dirty emotion. Not content with this, White’s distinctive vocals added new layers to the words that seemed to resonate throughout the venue like a rumour. The story of abandonment, betrayal, broken families and wasted lives hit harder than ever before, causing a few tears to be shed. And spontaneously, several members of the crowd produced copies of The New Paragon Inquirer magazine with Diablo on the cover. And with neither collusion nor discussion, they set light to them, releasing them to float into the air in an impromptu pyrotechnic show.

And then the band added a twist, cranking up the volume and energy to give the song a new rock out ending that saw the queen of alt rock White hold her own with the purple-haired pretender to the throne of punk.

Diablo seemed drained by the performance, just muttering a thank you and nodding her appreciation to the former Gothic Overtones front woman.

Lady C rejoined the band on stage, accompanied by the second guest performer of the night Nene McAllister.

Nene, vocalist and guitarist of her band The Nines, arrived on stage with her usual black 1980 Lead Fender 2 slung over her shoulder, her brown hair done in a slightly tussled and fluffy manner. The recent Capes magazine covergirl was dressed in loose fitting black hipster jeans, with a PVC halterneck top on that showed off a fair amount of pale skin and cleavage.

Nene hugged Diablo and the pair exchanged a few brief whispers before the assembled musicians fired up the Word’s perennial showstopper The Place Where You Are. The rock ballad pre-amble was dispensed with, the band preferring to launch into the cacophony of noise that they regular unleash to bring the house down at the end of the night. Lady C’s vocal gymnastics were bolstered with the very different voices of McAllister, White and Diablo to create a sound that just shouldn’t have worked - but by hell it did. This reviewer stopped counting when the song had run into its eighteenth minute with nobody, either on stage or off, wanting it to end.

But end it did, with The Last Word proving that all the hype was justified and raising hopes that they can bottle thunder by capturing a fraction of what they can do on stage on the Greetings from the Gutter album.

As the band say themselves say in Other Side of the Street: “For us lying in the gutter, the only way out is up”.

[edit] Discography

• Slip of the Tongue/Mother's Ruin, May 2007, Download only
• Other Side of the Street/Place Where You Are(live)/Slip of the Tongue(live), July 2007, Limited edition charity CD on behalf of the Angel Foundation
• Greetings from the Gutter, album released November 30, 2007.

[edit] Greetings from the Gutter

[edit] The Album

Greetings from the Gutter is the debut album from The Last Word. It was recorded during the latter part of 2007 and released on November 30. All songs are written by Dee Dee Diablo. The album is performed and produced by The Last Word with guest performances by Suzi White-Mitchel (credited as Suzi White) and Nene McAllister.

[edit] Tracklist

• 1.Intravenus Redux
• 2. Slip of the Tongue
• 3. Chemical Burn
• 4. Mother’s Ruin
• 5. Turmoil
• 6. Other Side of the Street
• 7. Crucifixion Anxiety
• 8. Mrs. Loverboy===
• 9. Gimme Hell
• 10. The Place Where You Are

[edit] Credits

[edit] The Band

• Dee Dee Diablo - Bass guitar/vocals on all tracks, acoustic guitar on Mother’s Ruin
• Lady C - Vocals
• Alice Springs - Drums
• Nathalie Brissaud - Keyboards
• Sylvia - Guitar

[edit] Guest Artists

• Suzi White - Vocals/guitar on Mother’s Ruin and The Place Where You Are
• Nene McAllister - Additional vocal effects with Dee Dee Diablo on Mrs. Loverboy

[edit] Thanks

The album is dedicated to the memory of Abbie Rhodes. Among the people thanked are the band’s manager Jay Reynolds, Ron Rhodes and the staff and patrons of the Comet Club, Nene McAllister “For helping me find my way”, and Slut Angel “For showing us that too much is never enough!”, the talented f*ckers at Rhino Designs for the kickass artwork, and to “Everyone who had faith in us. The rest of you can f*ck off”.

[edit] Musical Influences

When we first started up The Last Word as a concept we discussed which possible bands they could be compared to. Although The Last Word are harder and more explicit, Damone were an early inspiration. Later, User:Blackdove pointed me in the direction of Die So Fluid and Bif Naked. I'd never heard of the former, and the superficial similarities between Lady G and Dee are spooky, right down to the skull and crossbones on the five string bass. Later additions include Paramore and Queen Adreena; but basically The Last Word have always been described as genre blurring, and hopefully people hear their own sound in their heads when they read about their gigs etc.

[edit] Contact

The Last Word are:

@Romanov - Dee Dee Diablo

@GoodGuy - Lady C/Desiree Bell (Lady Cacophony)

@Dr Mechanibus - Alice Springs (Bat-Hawk)

@Diurne - Nathalie Brissaud (Tonnerre)

@Tyger - Silvia (Kinases)

The Last Word can provide colour to in game events such as parties, concerts and fundraisers subject to player availability. Contact @Romanov or approach band members in character in Pocket D.