Pacific Highway Music. Skegss
It must have been around 1996 that a few people in a bar in Leiden will have seen my first band The Beerhunters live for the last time. That moment that we finally started to sound like something. Soon after then drummer number x decided to leave the band, which proved fatal (and he lost our demo). Why is this relevant? Because we played my self-penned song 'Eastern Point', based on a trip up the Pacific coast of Australia, overlooking the ocean from the campsite, very near the most eastern point of the continent. That campsite was in Byron Bay, where Skegss originates from.
Skegss is a little bit of an outlier here as it plays less punk and garage rock than all the others. That said it deserves its spot with ease. The voice of Ben Reed is nice in a rough rock way. He is one half of a duo. Drummer Johnny Lani is the other. Opener 'Tradewinds' brings The Strokes to mind, from its debut album 'Is This It?'. Reed has a little of Julian Casablanca's rasp in his voice. Skegss likes to rock less hard and in a mid tempo range, with the focus more on melody. That still allows for a nice bit of alternative rock that live will be hard to reproduce for a duo. Skegss is not afraid to throw in another guitar or two, a bass or keys. In a song like 'I Think I Can Fly' that mix brings Skegss close to a band like Bright Eyes of circa 20 years ago. Pacific Highway Music brings a great mix of songs that allow for a party, can be translated to the campfire and work in the living room as well. Original?, no far from. Good?, certainly.
In my review of single 'Creepy Crawl' I wrote that a whole album of Man-Eaters would probably prove to be a bit much. And opening song does everything to prove me right. Man-Eaters punk rock, metal and hard rock all in one. I have to confess that the band does it in a great way. Just listen to these double guitars and the rhythm section go at it. The singer has a voice that has been treated with the most coarse sanding paper or even a steel brush for all I know. He gives the rock Man-Eaters play so much extra. The Chicago based band put a lot of energy into their new album, its fourth. The members obviously loved rock bands that were releasing records somewhere between 1976 and 1985. Bands that went after a huge rock sound, leaving the classic and more symphonic tinged bands behind. Man-Eaters have it all, including a huge dose of energy it is willing to share with the whole wide world.
The most traditional band in this overview is punkrockers Pinhead Gunpowder, a band that is around since 1990, but in the past fourteen years have only been playing for the members' own fun, when and where they could come together. That they could is telling of how much they like to play together as one member is quite famous, one Billie Joe Armstrong. It is not so surprising that the band does sound like Green Day quite often. Yes, Pinhead Gunpowder plays uptempo punkrock with great melodies also. Thirty three years after the band's first 7" there's a new album, where fun and skills can be found all over UNT. Although you may have heard it all before, the quality of the songs make UNT a very welcome album to listen to. Besides Armstrong you hear Aaron Cometbus (drums, lyrics), Bill Schneider (bass) and Jason White (guitar, vocals). Together the four play inspired and great. I let you decide which band released the better album this year. It may be tighter than you expect.
Hotbox is one of the bands that were started after The Dogmatics folded late in the 1980s. The band is active again for some years but Rum Bar Records has been on a hunt to find these long-forgotten recordings like by the Boston band Hotbox (and Matweeds some time back). The recordings from the early 1990s prove that some bands, maybe most bands do not receive what they deserve. The songs on Hotbox rock no little and mix 1960s garage bands with the bigger rock from the 1970s. Totally out of fashion in the early 1990s when grunge and Guns 'N' Roses really broke big. Come 2024 and its time for a full reappraisal. Hotbox was Jerry Lehane (vocals/guitar), Peter Mulford (lead guitar), Frank Pagliughi (bass) and Pete Sisco (drums). Just listen to a song like 'When It's Over'. Mulford plays a great solo over a song that rocks so hard and so good. How is it possible that no one picked this song up at the time? Or would my ears have listened differently 30 and some years ago? Most likely, yes. Still, it's time to make amends. Hotbox is an incredibly good band and this album is the best of the eight I presented in a short form. Hotbox by Hotbox yes, listen to it, now! It's the kind of album many alternative rockers today would die for.
Wout de Natris - van der Borght
You can listen to and order the albums here:
https://skegss.bandcamp.com/album/pacific-highway-music
https://man-eaters.bandcamp.com/album/quatro-muchacho
https://pinheadgunpowder.bandcamp.com/album/unt
https://rumbarrecords.bandcamp.com/album/hotbox
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