The Unknowns - Thinking about You

 

1. Who are The Unknowns? 

The Unknowns are a punk rock band from Brisbane, Australia. More rock'n'roll than garage they formed in 2014 and Thinking About You (February, 2023) slides off their second album The East Coast Low (March, 2023) like a chick wearing no knickers off a vinyl diner seat on a summers day.

2. What is Thinking About You about? 

Thinking About You has throbbing guitars, a throbbing singer, and just enough of a punk edge to stop this love song from being sickly sweet. It's like candy floss at the fair, packing a quick sugar rush, satisfying in the moment, and that's good enough. 

3. Which bands do The Unknowns sound like? 

Two members of the band are in The Chats. So there is that. Josh Hardy is a fat bastard and mugs it up a lot like Steve Jones too. But seriously people are feeling The Ramones, Cosmic Psychos and The Meanies. 

4. Which bands have influenced The Unknowns? 

The Saints, The Exploding Hearts, The Undertones, and The Lurkers. 

5. What have people said about Thinking About You? 

"Driving beats, steadfast melodics and sizzling guitar solos" - Hysteria Magazine. 

"No nonsense straight ahead garage punk that rips through the speakers" - Gimme Paperface. 

"Big hooks, massive energy, and an overwhelming sense of fun" - Faster and Louder.

"You always look so good to me,

If you were a film you'd be a fantasy"

Teen Mortgage - Tuning In

 

1. Who are Teen Mortgage? 

Teen Mortgage are a punk duo from Washington D.C. Their music ranges from surf punk to hardcore, they have been playing together since 2017 and collected their singles and E.P's into a debut self-titled album Teen Mortgage (Jan, 2024). Tuning In (August, 2022) is their most popular song. 

2. What kind of song is Tuning In? 

Tuning In is a tight two minute garage rock song that bops and has a catchy chorus not entirely dissimilar to The Ramones or FIDLAR. The tune is dismissive of corporate media and its effect on society.

3. Which bands have Teen Mortgage been compared to? 

Comparisons have been made to Death From Above 1979, Bad Nerves and Wine Lips. 

4. Which bands have influenced Teen Mortgage? 

They have expressed some love for White Stripes, Dead Kennedys, Fu Manchu, The Cramps and their contemporaries Meth Rats. 

5. What have people said about Tuning In? 

"Big hooks, gritty guitars and raw garage/punk" - Havoc Underground.

"A steady percussive pulse ...complement a steady punk-friendly vocal" - Obscure Sound.

"A lot of intensity, attitude and a fundamental freshness" - Metal Junkbox. 

"Corporations own em and tell em what to say,

Telling all of us to keep our hatred away,

From the billionaires that cause the real glooming" 

Chubby and The Gang - Coming Up Tough

 

1. Who are Chubby and The Gang?

Chubby and The Gang are a punk rock band from West London, England, and formed in 2019. The band members have played in hardcore punk bands and Chubby and The Gang have Oi and pub rock sensibilities to boot. Coming Up Tough (June, 2021) is the third single from their second album The Mutt's Nuts (August, 2021). 

2. What has Coming Up Tough got?

Coming Up Tough has a rock riff that wouldn't embarrass an early Acca Dacca (AC/DC) album and hardcore vocals that are furious about the brutal injustice of the prison system. A relentless rhythm reminiscent of a street beating pounds the message home but it's far from one dimensional. This is apex Chubby and The Gang.

3. Who do Chubby and The Gang sound like?

The Chisel of course (Chubby and The Gang singer Charles "Chubby Charles" Walker is the guitarist in The Chisel) but also Motörhead, Blitz, Conservative Military Image, and The Chats.

4. Which bands have influenced Chubby and The Gang?

The Ramones, Dr. Feelgood, Coloured Balls.

5. What have other people said about Coming Up Tough?

“A fist-pumping punk rager” – Louder Sound.

“A prickly take on the older, more melodic genres that punk derives from”- Tune Of The Day.

“A ripper”- Stereogum. 

"They sent you down for far too long"

8. Anything else?

Listening to Chubby and The Gang and The Chisel remind me of this Australian punk gem by Royal Headache. Royal Headache were a garage punk band from Sydney, Australia. They were critical darlings and released two albums, Royal Headache (2011) and High (2015). The band remind me of Cloud Nothings. But Royal Headache never achieved any mainstream success and imploded in 2017. Little Star is a low-fi scuzzy song that has gained punk anthem status among some and has remained one of my all time favorites if only for the lyric...

"What's the point of living if we can't understand the truth?

Not worth it!"

The Crispies - Bad Blood

     1.    Who are these posers?

     The Crispies are an indie pop rock band, with a dash of punk, from Vienna, Austria. The Crispies started rocking it in 2014 and have one E.P to their names. Bad Blood (June’16) is the band’s debut single and the lead single from their debut album Death Row Kids (Oct’16).

       2. How does Bad Blood stack up? 

     Bad Blood is a stripped down, skeezy, punk track that sashays it's way into your heart full of confidence and with it's seductive hips swaying. The classic sound of a guitar plugged into an amp kicks this bitch into action followed by a slow stomp with sharp lead licks tossed off willy nilly. Bad Blood reeks of piss and blood in a basement gig where the music is propelling a heaving mass of humanity toward divinity.

     3. Who are The Crispies similar to?

     The Crispies have been compared to The White Stripes by Critical Pixie, The Ramones by Home At The Heroes and The Arctic Monkeys by Music Austria.

     4. What’s the good word on Bad Blood?

    “Fuzz, Hooks, Reverb” – Noisey Vice.

    “Completely mad and boisterous” – Music Austria.

    “Sound as a pound” – You Tube Comments.

       5. Which bands influenced The Crispies?

     The Crispies have expressed love for Bass Drum Of Death and Ezra Furman.

  

           6. Why should I give Bad Blood a lash? 

Bad Blood captures the gritty escence of garage rock and the moment that visceral music transcends this earthly realm and launches us into nirvana.

      
7. Do The Crispies have any more crackers?

Mercy isn't too shabby.

     8. Any more words chief?

     The four band members all graduated from the same music school together at the same time and are all left-handed.

“We're gonna cough blood”

      

     APES are a garage rock band from Ballarat, Australia, who fight out of Melbourne at the minute. The band have been compared to Foals and Queens Of The Stone Age and have an E.P and a single on their roll call of honor. A debut album is due in October. APES are a raw, gut punching band that have scored support slots for luminaries such as Royal Blood, Band Of Skulls and FIDLAR. Pull The Trigger (2014) is APES at their best; a tune with a cracking riff up front, a raw, stripped back sound and a massive chorus. Get some.   

“So kill me”

PARTYBABY - Your Old Man

1.    Who are these bright new things?

PARTYBABY are Noah Gersh and Jamie Schefman and they fight out of Los Angeles, California. Your Old Man (Oct'15) is the second missile fired from these musical marvels.


2. What flavor of wonderful is Your Old Man?

Your Old Man is instantly lovable garage punk that reeks of gut punching honesty. At turns chill and sweet and noisy with an epic chorus that soars free into the stratosphere on gritty glam rock wings.

3. Who have PARTYBABY been compared to?

The consensus is FIDLAR. PARTYBABY are hitting the road in April with SWMRS and The Frights so that is the kind of pool they swim in. A fucking great one.


4. What have the pundits in the press said about Your Old Man?

“Snarling punk rock with a tab of anthemia” – DIY.

“An intoxicating blend of frazzled punk and impossibly infectious melodic refrains” – The Fat Angel Sings.

“Melody and hard rock edge” – Pigeons and Planes.

5. Which bands brought the favors to PARTYBABY’s party?

Everclear, Primal Scream, Fatboy Slim, Sparklehorse, SWMRS and more.

6. Why should I give Your Old Man a spin on the turntable?

Your Old Man brings a fresh, savage, attack to garage punk rock elevating it above and beyond the current crop of fine fucking soldiers battling for a righteous cause. Your Old Man packs the whallop of a steel-capped kick to the taint and is just as satisfying as collecting some sack with the follow through. It has a rich tapestry of musical textures, rhythms and blinding production too.

7. Do PARTYBABY have any more of these blinders?

The debut single Everything's All Right brings the pain and blows out the cobwebs.

8. Any more words fool?

Noah Gersh was a member of Portugal. The Man and Jamie Schefman is a producer and engineer and put his genius to shine on 30 Seconds To Mars last two long players.

“Do you ever talk to your old man?

Does he understand what we do on the weekends?”

It would be rude to ignore 30 Seconds To Mars for the follow-up seeing as how Jamie Schefman shared engineering duites on their last two albums. The alternative rock band roll out of Los Angeles, California and have been on the job since 1998 and sold over 15 million albums. This Is War (2010) screamed off the album of the same name that sold four million albums and a million singles. This Is War is bombastic nonsense but it is fun.

“Raise your hands into the sky,

The fight is done, the war is won”





Public Access TV - In Love and Alone

1.   Who are these grips?

Public Access TV are a post punk rock band from New York City. They have a short player behind them and a new album to be released soon this year. In Love and Alone (Nov'15) is a double A-side single with Patti Peru.

2. What kind of tune have Public Access TV got?

An indie punk rocker with gang vocals that bangs along like the car they are driving. Not fast but with grit and style.

3. Who do Public Access TV sound like?

In Love and Alone is playing in the same sandbox as FIDLAR’s Why Generation, VANT’s Parking Lot. The Vaccine’s Handsome is over on the swings and Palma Violets' Danger In The Club is having a durry, chatting up a young'un by the slides.

The good bastards at Itcher throw out Spring King, Rory Wynne, The Jacques, Weezer and The Strokes as their go to bands.

4. So what have the press goons got to say?

The sycophants are licking this shit up. Public Access TV have “... already proved the goldmine of rock'n'roll classics has yet to run dry,” according to those venerable scribes at NME who went on to lap more up, In Love and Alone is  “... backed up by clattering, cacophonous guitars. It's noisy, chaotic and a true-to-life reflection of the tumult of emotions that comes with unrequited love.” DIY were wanting some of the same action, “bombastic,” they reckoned and, “their most unhinged, all-out rock and roll single yet.” “Rambunctious, loud, full of guitars,” straight batted The Most Definitely and Clash Music sensing they might be left only watching this love fest hurled themselves into the fray with “he American band are seemingly equipped with snappy anthem after snappy anthem.”

 

 5. Who are Public Access TV influenced by?

The band have said they got wood listening to The Strokes and were influenced by Interpol. Front man John Eatherly has talked about having some love for The Ramones, David Bowie, Lou Reed, Bob Dylan and Johnny Thunders.

6. So why should I give In Love and Alone a fair crack of the whip?

Do you like The Ramones? If not jog on. Slow Ramones with better production values. Raw but modern.  A song about un-requitted love. Universal themes. 

7. Do Public Access TV have any more red hot numbers?

Did cancer have a hard on for The Ramones? Try In The Mirror. It doesn't blow goats.

 8. Is there any more invaluable information to impart?

The bands apartment was blown up, up up, by a gas explosion you might remember.

The band have been on fluffer duties for good bands like Weezer, The Strokes, FIDLAR, WAVVES and Twin Peaks. 

“She is lost and she is scared now,

I should ask myself why and how”

Slippery seconds today is courtesy of another post punk New York band Interpol. Started in 1997 they have found critical acclaim, fame and fortune. Everything Is Wrong (Jan'15) is one of four singles from their fifth, and most recent, album El Pinter (2014). The album got rave reviews.

“Think I know why, what I say,

Inverse achievements, I rule the daze”

FIDLAR - Why Generation

1.   Who are these piss holes giving the finger?

FIDLAR are a ‘wanks on planks’ garage punk band from Los Angeles, USA. The lads have been stirring shit, and been on it, since 2009. Why Generation (Feb’16) is the fifth single released from their second long player Too (Sept'15).

2.   So what kind of tune do we have here?

After showing signs of great promise, finally, a pearler.  A mellow garage punk groover with a noisy chorus and a god honest, albeit brief, lead guitar break followed by some surfy lines in the coda.

3. Who do FIDLAR sound like?

Twin Peaks, SWMRS, GHOSTS, The Orwells and Public Access TV spring to mind.

Some say Wavves are the go to band. Thanks Pitchfork, I was asleep at the wheel. On that topic, FIDLAR were asked if they thought they are similar to The Orwells. The answer was “fuck no.” But the good oil is King Tuff and Bass Drum Of Death.

4. What is the good word from the press?

About the single Why Generation, Consequnce Of Sound drew a big, big, big bow, calling it “a smartly layered commentary for a song about millennial struggles and failures.” Someone get me a hankie for my eyes, I laughed so hard I cried. Spin Magazine weren't over enthused “a weird little detour into the British Invasion,” they sniffed.

About the album Too, some semblance of sanity returned over at COS as they commented on the “tight riffs and jangly power pop melodies,” before losing the plot again sure the album is,“as trashy and as thrasy as they come.” Oh shit, I didn't piss myself this time but I did dribble a bit. Muppets. Clash Music came to the rescue lauding “a fantastic second effort” and the “catchy riffs and partying.” Spin were feeling the “throaty barks and feedback-shot riffs,” while Pitchfork hit the nail on the head “a crisper, almost radio-friendly effort.”

5. Who are FIDLAR’s influences?

FIDLAR's influences are Black Flag, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Wu-Tang Clan, The Beastie Boys, Elton John, The Band, Thee Oh Sees, The Black Lips, Jay Reatard, The Pixies, The Everly Brothers, Sam Cooke and Toto. Toto? A recent Spotify list from the band is smoking. Standouts include Sublime, Suicidal Tendencies, Warren Zevon, Black Sabbath and Creedance Clearwater Revival.


 6. Why should I give Why Generation a go?

Having a pop at phone obsession and singing about contemporary anxieties is to be celebrated and FIDLAR are exploring worthy themes. No one expects them to do it articulately. They are a punk band and funny ass motherfuckers with some style. Why Generation represents a band moving forward lyrically and musically without neglecting the punch of their earlier material. While the term earworm is vile, it is appropriate.

7. Do FIDLAR have any other good tunes?

Sure. 40 oz. On Repeat is the lead single from the second album and it nails it. Massive sound. Of course West Coast doesn't miss with it's swing either. I Just Wanna Die is an acoustic number without being lame. Unlikely but true.

8. Are there any other pertinent facts to share with your observant audience? 

Why yes indeed, my fine fellow. The new album Too was produced by Jay Joyce who put the shine on albums by bands like Sleeper Agent, COIN, Coheed and Cambria and Halestorm.

The casual observer will note much is made of front man Zac Carper’s past drug use in the press. Worth note are some of the sour notes in the otherwise privileged life Zac has had. He said,“I stopped doing heroin, I stopped doing meth, I stopped smoking crack,” while crediting in part Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong. As you do.

“How to live in the twenty-first century, 

When every move you make, everyone can see?”

Pudding today is from one of New Zealand’s finest, a national treasure and heroes of the nation, the alternative rock band Shihad. The band have been supplying the smash hits to Kiwis since 1988 and racked up five consecutive NZ number one albums in the process. The finest and most celebrated of which is The General Electric (1999) an album produced by Garth Richarson who did the same for Rise Against, Biffy Clyro, You Me At Six, Chevelle and the best albums from Rage Against The Machine and Red Hot Chili Peppers.  

My Mind’s Sedate was one of a triumvirate of big swinging singles from the album and found them straying slightly into punk territory. 

“Extract the venom spit it over your shoulder”