I Remember catching wind of PRESS CLUB from Melbourne, Australia a couple of years ago, watching a video online, thinking the next time I heard their name they’d be well known, then completely forgot to check back. Well it looks like I was right, seeing as they just played Reading and Leeds festivals on tour in the U.K. promoting their second album.
Sounding very much like a post-everything alternative rock band, my narrow punk rock musical references are limited for anything outside of my myopic life, but for what it’s worth this reminds me of RVIVR meets WHITE LUNG, complete with soulful rasping female voice akin to THE GITS, and a tight unit harnessing the loud ‘n’ quiet, powering a passionate vocal delivery.
Listening to this, you can imagine them cutting their teeth on a musical diet of shared HUSKER DU, REPLACEMENTS and JAWBREAKER albums, practising like obsessed bastards to get as tight and pack as much depth and punch as possible into their songs from the outset. And their recorded output sounds like all the hard work paid off.
‘Wasted Energy’ is anything but that, precisely delivered with a punk abandon so typical of Australian bands of all stripes. And when they open it up on rippers like ‘New Year’s Eve’ they go full bore TILT, and you can imagine them going off live. And if you’ve ever sung along with SAMIAM down the front at a sweaty gig, you’re probably going to let loose to this lot.
(Welly)
Artcore Fanzine | Est. 1986 