Daysick – Tragedy
Nah, the members of Sex Pistols, except Sid Vicious, could all play their instruments. They could take ’50s rock n’ roll and give it a makeover like nobody else. As a consequence, all of them continued making music after the group broke up.
But that’s not a catchy headline, is it? Of course, it only makes sense that reporters preferred focusing on the supposed story that the members of the band, and indeed, all punk groups, were just people off the street who’d been handed guitars at the door. Daysick’s members should be laughing hysterically while hearing this.
The fact is that this accusation of lack of ability has dogged punk bands since the late 1970s. Yet, if you take the time to investigate and open your ears to hear, you may be confronted by punk-rock bands that make some of the most complex, challenging rock music heard in recent times.
One such band is Daysick. Not only is this the kind of band that can comfortably work within the confines of a concept album and imbue this with plenty of raw emotion to boot, but the band confidently throws in examples of technical virtuosity at every step. But is “Tragedy” a punk-rock single? Very much so! This is an angry band that’s open to confrontation, who really wants you to listen closely to what they can do.
Don’t Tell John – Hard Luck
Damn, that electric guitar was a good idea wasn’t it. Nah, it’s not simply the fact that it looks awfully sexy, the principal reason why you can still see it on stage whenever a pop singer’s tour rolls into town.
Frankly, the world of controllers and fancy DAWs has managed to synthesise just about every kind of sound. You can turn yourself into John Bonham by tapping your fingers the right way, or recreate the sound of a church organ. But not those damn guitars! You still need someone pushing and bending on those strings.
And, as it turns out, the same can be said about singing. Why, with all the fancy effects that you can add to singing, all the producers that can clean up vocals, and the hundreds of thousands of vocalists who turn up at the door of American Idol-type shows, you’d think that powerful, rocking vocals would be something very easy to hold of.
But, no, strong performers of rock music continue to be a rarity. And the world, part of it at least, is waking up from its digital slumber. Now’s a good time for the Soundgarden-influenced Don’t Tell John to greet the true believers with the riff-heavy, vocally overloaded “Hard Luck.” This is music for those who can’t trust synthetically processed sounds to provide the grit and anger that they desperately need. This is muci made by real people using those damn inventions that never went out of style.
