Running Down Pylons. N.E. Vains

Covid bands and projects. Although 2025 is nearing its end and the world has done its utmost to forget the lockdowns, as if a general amnesia fell over the planet, still records come out that found its start in the Covid lockdown period.

N.E. Vains is an American/Canadian band that started its first steps towards collaboration at that time. Jeffrey Thunders and TJ Cabot started chatting on a Facebook page and from one came the other. 

The result is a punk/garage rock album where four New England musicians team up with one Canadian. Running Down Pylons is of the kind where in the first seconds the pedal is pushed to the metal, only to stop by either putting the foot off the pedal in the last second or it's stopped by a frontal crash with a thick wall. There is nothing in between here.

The sound is dirty, like the sound from a 1960s transistor radio with the tiniest of speakers. No, it isn't mono but something close to it, so dense is the mix and sound N.E. Vains produces. Yes, individual instruments can be discerned but that is about it. No time was spilled creating a great production. This is all about the energy the band's members produce together and unleash unfiltered.

Jeffrey Thunders recruited Shandy Lawn (Lead Guitar), Bill Bates (Bass) and Elvis Belushi (Drums). Together they wrote and recorded the first songs and sent the result to Canadian singer TJ Cabot (also known as Tyler Boutillier) to write vocal melodies and lyrics. The first result was a split 7" with Chinese Junk, Tragically, Bill Bates died in 2023, but the band found a replacement in Scott Finch, with whom they finished its debut album.

Where influences go, I hear a lot of Iggy Pop in the way of singing and The Stooges are not far away either. However, when N.E. Vains wants to, it writes better and more free flowing melodies that allow a hint of pop, like in 'The Grounds'. Just as easily the band rocks without mercy in 'Through Wíth It', including a mean and dirty slide guitar. This side of N.E. Vains has the up side though. Generally speaking, pop and clean are things the band's members wipe their dirty shoes with. 45 Seconds can be enough to share the message, 'My Ammunition'.

Running Down Pylons is not an album I can play in the home with the family around. It is the kind of album to play on my own. to come out totally supercharged, ready to take on the world. Running Down Pylons is that kind of album.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order Running On Pylons here:

https://bigneckrecords1.bandcamp.com/album/running-down-pylons