Labels: Newest Industry
Review by: Andy Malcolm
Now here’s a release I never expected to hear. Shonben existed a few years back (as the title suggests) and their only previous output was a great split 7″ with Japanese band, Long Ball to No-One. So most of the tracks here were recorded as demo’s and apparently never intended for release. Don’t let that put you off though as they are certainly of release quality. I saw the band play in Southampton back that year and they were really rather special, though they must have been pretty much fresh then because they screwed up at least 1 song and had to start over. They played a rather solid blend of UK style melodic hardcore crossed up a mid-west indie/emo sound. The tunes were absolutely sweet as a nut and spot on the mark. For the most part the songs are belted out at a mid-pace but they can ease up and down the gears from time to time. Such as on the song “Seventeen” where the jangly guitars are delightfully Christie Front Drive-esque before they ramp up the volume. Shonben’s Scott Stewart singing is hardly of Eric Richter standards but the vocals are strong and carry the music well. Scott was in Broccoli and Apple Orchard prior to this (and Dead Inside later!), and if you heard the Apple Orchard 7″ you’ll have a pretty fair reference point. Just flicked through a tonne of me old pop punk 7″ to dig it out and give a listen to. Can’t say I ever got into their LP though. Anyways, there are 9 songs in total on this CD and it is strong from start to finish. Opener “We Are So Easy To Please” is glorious, quick and catchy with some top melodies. Sets the scene for the whole CD.
Overall, this is a mighty fine retrospective look at these folks rather secret lifetime, the songs definitely deserved to be released and have stood the test of the years. So nice jawb to the Newest Industry folks on that one. I can’t say I have much interest in what many UK ‘scene’ bands do these days, and the fact that this is 4 years old and so much better than the majority of what I have heard the past few years that passes for punk rock or ‘indie/emo’ from these fair isles is indicative of the fact that a) this is really good and b) that there are a lot of crappy bands out there. Oh well.