From: Fullerton, California, USA
Genre: Garage Punk
Having stumbled upon this audacious rock a few months back, it took a reminder from my Facebook feed to go back and rediscover exactly why I had used one of my precious “likes” on this band after having originally checked them out. It didn’t take long to understand why, as I streamed latest LP “Mellow Cruisers” on their Bandcamp Page, ridden with poppy hooks that would have even the most depressed garage punker doing the bodyrock.
It wasn’t always this way though; for a band that has been together almost 15 years, they seem to have taken their time in finding a mature sound. Listening back to their earlier offerings, albeit at a very young age, they have progressed from what was once a much more raw punk sound to what is now a well-oiled and composed collection of melodic and poppy garage punk. As well-oiled as you want a garage punk band to be that is…
From opening tracks Indian Chief and Garza Girls we get a taste of what may have influenced these guys, with flavourings of The Stranglers and distorted vocals akin to something we’d hear on a Julian Casablancas record… all thrown into a pool of Bubblegum Pop. It’s a slight throwback to The Star Spangles, a great band out of Manhatten, who put out a couple of records in the mid 2000’s… Whatever happened to them by the way? If they could have done with anything it was a slice of pop and The Audacity give us just that, if not the whole pie.
Onwards through the record we get vibes a surfy during Subway Girl and on tracks Fun Spot and John Doe one can only assume a used Pete Doherty syringe had been acquired in order to create such an astute injection of British indie influence. Ears and Eyes follows on with more of a Weezer feel, pulling from the classic sensibilities and harmonies that made the Blue Album the classic it is today. The track Punk Confusion even features a good old fashioned “UGH”, one which would have been a vital missing element to an otherwise spotless effort of rock and roll.
Front to back this is a marvellous listen and shame on us for not discovering it sooner. The band have a new record coming out on April Fool’s Day 2016, entitled “Hyper Vessel” on the Seattle-based Suicide Squeeze Records.
Connect with the band via their pages on Facebook, Bandcamp and Twitter.
In the meantime, you can hear the great record in subject, in full, on YouTube below:
REDISCOVER MUSIC 