What makes the news nowadays when there’s nobody to push the buttons on what is allowable or not? And, more importantly, how much of other people’s problems is the public willing to tolerate with so much information that they’re already absorbing on a general basis?
If the history of storytelling has taught us anything is that folks, regardless of their intelligence or studies, only listen to tales that are, or could be, about them. Everything else is either a novelty or a nuisance that they can’t wait to get rid of. What has dwn bad learned from this and what can other rock bands take as a lesson?
Write big, powerfully rockin’ songs, yes. But make sure to make the stories that fit around those chords, riffs and drum parts, the kind that just about anyone who hears them will have to sigh and whisper to themselves: “That could be me, couldn’t it?
The kind of sound that Derek Silva, the band’s main songwriter, favours is the sort of melodic, pleasant garage-rock that’s been an inspiration to bands all the way up to The Strokes. Take the EP’s opener, “Try and Try Again.” The song moves around a Charlie Watts-like beat and Silva’s echo-drenched vocals. It’s the kind of music that you’d feel lucky to hear in a beach bar. But it’s also a song about seeking affection, and a theme that should feel relatable to all listeners.
There are more thrills to be found on the “Good Luck Have Fun” EP with “Too Late,” a song that feels like Julian Casablancas exercising his ability to channel the Velvet Underground on command.
Romantic relationships and the difficulty of navigating them dominate the stories included in this short collection. “Liar Liar (Talk to Me)” delivers some new-wave-like hooks to a story about having been dropped to hell. And, “Run Around” ramps up the sense of drama all the way through by leaving enough silences through the bass lines to allow you to consider your own position.
Where does it all leave us? Where most strong rock releases do – looking for love in all the wrong places, but carrying on the search. The EP ends with the driving “Love on Repeat,” a tune that sounds like a garage-rock remake of ABBA. It’s enough to make you want to move and seek out something new. It’s enough to make you wonder if any of these stories are really about you.
Social media links
