Happy Bullets Issue #26

The Vice and Virtue Ministry (Undeniable)

By Bill Copeland
Published: December 1st, 2005 | 4:03pm

Pop-rock, multi-instrumental quintet Happy Bullets may no longer be the best-kept secret in Texas. Songcraft comes easy to these players and a strong Beatles-Kinks influence roots their quirky tunes in the ’60s.

“Learning to Love the Factory” opens The Vice and Virtue Ministry with its sensitive strumming of an acoustic guitar and a gentle, sweet vocal playing over a melodic mellotron. The title track features a dual lead guitar melody through this mid-tempo, sarcastic attack on the upper class. Abounding with vocal harmonies, sweet textures, and lighthearted lyrics, this tune plows forward and is marked by a strange falsetto. The next song, “Drinkin’ on the Job,” opens with an engaging, gurgling synth melody playing over a romping pop-style rhythm section. The synth line, meanwhile, becomes a swaying, sloping giant that eventually envelops the song. “Mr. Gray,” a morose tale about a man who’s lost his job and everything else, is reminiscent of “Maxwell Silver Hammer” for handling a serious topic lightly. Huge and catchy, “The Disquieting Letter” uses trumpet and trombone for its melody. A thumping drum track gives it a large marching-band feel that holds up the horns. Bassist Andrea Roberts has a winsome, girlish vocal on “If You Were Mine” that makes me wish she was featured more often.

Happy Bullets may be too quirky for mainstream radio or they may be the needed freshness. Only time will tell. But, for now, there is no denying their talent.