In The Pink was a popular Boston area group and their bassist was (for a limited time) Berklee graduate Gary Schutt. With Puppets in Symmetry Schutt blasts an all out pop/rock assault that hearken’s back to late 80s metal, though heavy on the misogynistic tendencies. “Psycho Bitch” is as much fun as it is politically incorrect, head bangers will find its core – a man being physically abused by his girlfriend – a good back atcha that will have Dr. Phil scratching his head with worry. It’s hard to say it’s all in good fun as the guy is emotionally and physically wounded by his chosen one not being stable enough to be with him “forever”, as the song promises. Domestic abuse is front and center these days and if the song emerged out of a personal experience the protagonist has chosen an angry audio assault for his therapy rather than, well…therapy!
And if that isn’t enough to get Gloria Marie Steinem and the Women’s Media Center in an uproar, “Wish You Were Dead” and “Bitch With a Capital C” ought to do the trick. Alice Cooper can get away with a song like “Mental Ward” but the National Organization for Women might have a problem with a clean-cut multi-instrumentalist making light of girls gone wild.
There actually is a song entitled “Therapy” and perhaps the artist is dancing on the tightrope dipping into both fantasy and reality? Symmetry is, of course, “an imprecise sense of harmonious or aesthetically pleasing proportionality and balance…reflecting beauty or perfection” and/or “patterned self-similarity” that can be demonstrated or proved by geometry, physics or what have you. Puppets are manipulated, that’s the only way they come to life in the “real world”, so the album title provides an out for the artist who can blame it all on chance, circumstance or the proverbial “cosmic 2 year old” my literary friend David surmises is playing with us all. IF we are the puppets then the imperfect sense of control we believe we have is all an illusion resulting in a loud cry for help while smashing the glass like a bull in a China shop, as Schutt does to great effect on this excellent set of recordings. You can indulge in the psycho-babble or just surprise your guests at the next party…either way Puppets in Symmetry is a fun macho revolution from a journeyman who has traveled all over Europe, Brazil and Australia and who has opened for Grand Funk, Rick Springfield, Dream Theater Peter Frampton and others.
Track listing: 1.Psycho Bitch. 2.Self Destruction 3.Someone New 4 Wish You Were Dead 5.Therapy.6.Crave 7Lost Soul Mate 8 Mental Ward 9.Its Not Me 10. Bitch with a Capital C 11 Dog 12. Nowhere Fast. 13 Die Another Love
Gary Schutt is now managed by Stargazer Entertainment Mgt. Group out of Florida, a company created by rock radio djs Doug Deal and Sharie Heading.
Joe Viglione is the Chief Film Critic at TMRZoo.com. He has written thousands of reviews and biographies for AllMovie.com, Allmusic.com, Gatehouse Media, Al Aronowitz’s The Blacklisted Journal, and a variety of other media outlets. Joe also produces and hosts Visual Radio, a seventeen year old variety show on cable TV which has interviewed Jodie Foster, director/screenwriter David Koepp, Michael Moore, John Cena, comics/actors Margaret Cho, Gilbert Gottfried, Gallagher, musicians Mark Farner and Don Brewer of Grand Funk Railroad, Ian Hunter of Mott The Hoople, Ray Manzarek, John Densmore, Felix Cavaliere of The Rascals, political commentator Bill Press and hundreds of other personalities.
