"If I add 6 cover songs maybe we can get away with releasing this single as an EP!" I am sure this is what ran through the minds of members of John Wayne Shot Me and head honchos at 62 TV Records when deciding to release the Let Sleeping Monsters Sleep EP. This 7-track CD EP features one piece of original material, "Let Sleeping Monsters Sleep" from a forthcoming album due out in April, and 6 covers. This endeavor takes quirky irony to the point of wastefulness.

Without a one-sheet about this EP and band, I am left to assume that they are from Belgium, because that is where their record label is located. Therefore, I find the style in which they play music to be very predictable. Think brit-rock. The original song on this EP is not about a monster. It is, instead, a metaphor about, I assume, a past relationship. I love monsters, critters, and dinosaurs, so the actual subject matter of the song was a let down after my hopes had been raised high by the title. The fact that the second track is, in fact, about a dinosaur was only slightly redeeming because it is originally by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, which makes me think pretty highly of them and congratulate the John Wayne boys for choosing it. The other covers on the album are of songs by Daniel Johnston, Napalm Death, Destiny's Child, and the Carter Family. All of these songs are sung in the same vocal-heavy, casio-heavier, deadpan Euro-rock style. If a band is going to release this many covers I think they better be really really innovative and awesome; this EP meets neither of these two criterion and, by "There'll Be Joy Joy Joy" is more than borderline obnoxious.

From their band name to their cover songs, John Wayne Shot Me comes off as an attempt of European dudes to try to exploit American pop culture. While I might not have the most American Pride, listening to this EP grated on my nerves to the point where I would very nearly have preferred listening to the Carters belt one out.

-Sarah Stedman