Argue until you are blue in the face about it’s title, but the one thing you can count on, is that you will know when you hear it. It’s Punk. Enter The Drips.
Todays’ Punk-Rock is right now, clawing it’s way out of the emo waste bin, far more engaging than any fashion based, scene driven, pho-rock, thrush that ever existed, (Yes that’s right, Thrush!) The Drips are a fine example of what punk rock is all about.
Comprising of members from The Bronx (Matt Caughthran and Joby Ford), The Distillers (Tony Belivaqua)and Los Lobos (David and Vincent Hidalgo) I was extremely excited to receive a copy of the first full-length recording and long awaited self titled debut from this L.A. five piece.
More melodic than The Bronx (but no less brutal) The Drips have a unique sound that takes me back to the days of Dead Kennedys and Refused. Simple, wins out everyday.
It’s a big duel guitar sound, huge vocals (you can’t expect much less from the tank that is Matt Caughthran) and meat and potatoes drumming that will peel your skin. It is all too obvious that these L.A guys have spent a lot of time in the bowels of music venues jamming out material whilst no doubt leaving audiences agasp.
As with any punk or post-punk sound, recording plays a big part in capturing the essentials. The live beast is the heart and soul, so the logistics involved in getting this onto an album can be tricky. Idealy, you want a live sound recorded in as little time as possible without being precious and that is what you get when you hear this album.
The Drips boast an 11 track album in two days, but don’t mistake fast paced, efficiency with reckless abandonment. This album rocks and is worth its weight in sweat. It’s technically sharp, uncomplicated, unbaked, raw and downright refreshing.
I would pay to see more bands take this approach, drop the ratings act (and the hair straightening tongs) and put out a beastly, objectional record like this one.
Check out 16,16,Six for the lyrics and earnest, melodic ode to old school punk, (shit, it’s enough to make you cry) and Brown Brown’for the mid-afternoon wake up call that The Bronx fans will appreciate.
Out now on White Drugs this is one for the collection and as Chaz Honeycut puts it, “It’s Pretty Good”
