I was somewhat bemused when this turned up for review. I bashed the details into ITunes and had a look on last.fm. Zero listeners. It’s like they specifically targeted Collective Zine. Given that they are from San Diego and sound like they could have had a record out on Goldenrod in 1997, perhaps they read a few reviews on here where I rambled on about that shit. I also noted that on their Twitter feed they wrote “thanks to all the UK folks who’ve been downloading our EP!” which was probably after I posted something on the forum about them. So influential.
Opening song “Code Red” may be the standout on this EP, a real rocker that belts along quite nicely, not a million miles away from the likes of Jade Shader, or some of the grungier stuff that was coming out of San Diego in the late 90s (get on it!), but that’s not to say the rest is ignorable. “Brick Layer Cage” chugs into play with spoken vocals and hefty, mid-paced guitar, suggesting a little Chune influence here and there, or maybe that’s my over-active imagination. “Hot Strokes” is faster and more ragged, less notable. Back on track with the driving “Safer at Night” where the intro is totally Yaphet Kotto before ploughing into the vocals. Good shit right here you know! Looks like I am stuck writing a sentence about every song now. “Rock Tom” is a little less inspired, and as such I can’t think of something to write about it, though it does still fit the mood of the EP. Things are rounded off on “Slow Tom”, which is lengthy, decent instrumental though my mind wandered off before it had finished.
Solid start. If the band asked me for advice (yeah right) I would just tell them to stick with them Goldenrod and Wrenched catalogues, and rip off Calabash Case, Chune, the Interstate 10, and 100 Watt Halo as much as you can. No-one is going to know.