A satisfying stop-gap!
On the back of the band’s great album, ‘Build & Burn’ that was released last year, the rockers from Philadelphia return with a stop-gap 6-track EP. Currently touring with Gaslight Anthem, Murder By Death and Frank Turner, it is Gaslight Anthem that these guys are most like, with both bands having the ability to bring back full-throttle Rock back into the mainstream. This EP features 3 new tracks and 3 covers from the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Billy Bragg and Joe Strummer.
Starting off where the ‘Build & Burn’ left off, ‘Distracted’ has big guitars and a fast-paced beat that flies out like Springsteen on a Punk trip. Then next song, ‘Last Call’ starts slow with a piano, before feverous riffs kick in and the tempo speeds up into the Rock sound that always borders, without falling fully, onto Punk Rock. This then leads us to the speeded up rebel-rousing anthem of, ‘Spy Diddley’ which is fast and furious exactly like you’d like to hear wetting the appetite for what the next album might offer.
Then we turn our attentions to the 3 cover songs, and it’s easy to see that these are heavy influences for the band with you being able to almost pick out how each band influence these guys. First up we have The Bosses 1982 song, ‘Johnny 99’, and things are even more impressive when you learn that Dave Hause stayed behind in the studio one night and recorded this in one take. It is purely Dave, his guitar, his voice and a bottle of whiskey. Bruce Springsteen is a big influence for both Loved Ones and Gaslight Anthem, and let’s not forget Bon Jovi too, and it’s a shame that he’s often looked over with what he has brought musically to the world. Next song, ‘Lovers Town Revisited’ was previously written by Billy Bragg and is 78 seconds of great Rock, before we have an acoustic version of Joe Strummer’s ‘Coma Girl’ that sounds a little like Chuck Ragan.
I’m not usually a big fan of EP’s, however adding some covers mixes it up a bit and gives you some new songs for the band to promote whilst forever touring as The Loved Ones appear to be doing. These guys are going from strength to strength and I look forward to their new album. Great EP. Great band. Great stuff!