Keep Me Glued. Local Drags

Local Drags is a U.S. band in the best of the alternative rock tradition that country has. Ever since powerpop bands crept up in the wake of the punk revolution, the U.S. has produced bands that excel in this kind of music. Local Drags is another branch added to a firmly rooted tree.

Looking at the band's Bandcamp page, the first message from the Springfield, Illinois band is "Loud Gin Blossoms", as apparently someone at a show once shouted. Now I haven't played my Gin Blossom albums for a while, I think I have two, but I can live with that. Just like the rocking side of Fountains of Wayne or Weezer. Older bands like The Knack or The Romantics come by as well.

Name dropping is all fine but not if the songs on Keep Me Glued do not have the quality to even start comparing. In that compartment Local Drags totally delivers. The band rocks out, loud and tight, but never without losing what music in my ears is about, melody and fun. Keep Me Glued is filled to the brim with both, so there's no need for the invitation the title suggest. This album does that all by itself. This conclusion brings me to the band that I have to think most of listening to the album: Green Day. This trio may play in a more punkrock style than Local Drags does, the result is the same, airtight rocksongs that demand singing and moving along to.

I can't help noticing the U.K. element as a part of the music of Local Drags. English bands usually are more after a melody and that is where the two musical worlds come together on Keep Me Glued. It's not for nothing that a song like 'Girl From Mars' plays through my head every once in a while when listening to a song like 'Cash Bar'. It literally results in the best of both worlds as far as I'm concerned.

With Keep Me Glued Local Drags released its second album after 'Shit's Looking Up' from 2019. In between two EPs were released. For me it's an introduction, so I cannot compare. I can't imagine this not being a nice step forward, listening how pleasantly melodic and tight this mix of punk, rock and powerpop sounds. The kind that just puts a smile on my face on any day.

Wo.

You can listen to and order Keep Me Glued here:

https://localdrags.bandcamp.com/album/keep-me-glued

or here:

https://www.stardumbrecords.com/collections/lps/products/local-drags-keep-me-glued-lp

or listen to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:

https://open.spotify.com/user/glazu53/playlist/6R9FgPd2btrMuMaIrYeCh6?si=KI6LzLaAS5K-wsez5oSO2g