Cleveland Steamers “10 More Steaming Piles of Hit” 2022. Drome Records. The fourth LP from a band I was, up until this moment, completely unaware of (this record was a recent Christmas gift from a friend who is super-into Cleveland-based Archie and the Bunkers with whom the Cleveland Steamers have collaborated; he gave me an album by them, too, which I’ll listen to soon!). A quick Google search on the band: I first landed on a line of industrial-looking kitchen equipment (possibly the band’s name inspiration) and next, unfortunately, a slang term meaning (quoting from Wiki here) “A sexual act involving defecating on someone’s chest, then sitting in it and rolling back and forth like a steamroller.” Gross, and because it’s a punk band I’m guessing that second search was the actual band name inspiration. I finally was able to find just a little more valuable – and less disturbing information – about the band Cleveland Steamers mostly from an article on Cleveland’s Clevescene website where they interview Scott Cheese Borger, Cleveland Steamers’ bassist and songwriter (formerly of 80’s punk band Pink Holes and early 90’s The 2 Bobs) about 10 More Steaming Piles of Hit. The album is divided between Side A (the Love Side) and Side B (the Hate Side). Both are punk-adjacent: the Love side more power-pop orientated with lots of 60’s pop sensibility (Ramones-esque but not as snappy). My top pick from the Love Side is “Tonight” which could totally be on a Buzzcocks record. The Hate Side is decidedly darker and bluesier: “Murder” is ominous and “Bad Feelin’” features blues harmonica very prominently. Borger, in the article cited above, calls that track “the best song we have ever done.” It’s OK but I prefer the more garage-rocking/gothy “Knock on His Door” and “Count on Me” which the Clevescene interviewer describes as having “a Dead Boys/Rocket From the Tombs vibe to it” and Borger agrees on those historic Cleveland influences. There are next to zero videos of Cleveland Steamers that I could find, just a couple from the early-ish 2000’s that didn’t seem worth linking. 10 More Steaming Piles of Hit is interesting from a midwest punk/power pop standpoint but not a record I need to keep in our collection. Hit me up if you want it.