10

A pure pop punk punch

Sugar and spice and all things nice are supposedly the essential components that make up little girls. That is unless your name is Vanessa Eve, lead singer of Jaed and someone who clearly missed her prescribed ration of these key ingredients. This is a girl who spouts enough crudeness and profanity to make Ozzy blush and yet also holds a certain degree of charm. Considering Jaed are all about pop punk, the more Eve can offend the more endearing she becomes and with a punchy rhythm section to back this larger than life, charismatic lead singer, Jaed seem to have all the key punk boxes firmly ticked.

With the ability to make Artic Monkey's 'When the Sun Goes Down' resemble a nursery rhyme, 'My Way' exposes the lengths Eve went to in order to survive life on the streets of Melbourne trying to feed her drug habit after she left home at sixteen to escape an abusive father. Gritty, honest and cringingly realistic, 'My Way' packs a powerful blow straight to the stomach as it stampedes along with unrivalled urgency and graphically narrative lyrics. Certainly not one for the easily offended or the faint hearted. Perhaps not the cheeriest of subjects, Jaed's take on it is enriched with a deliberate bout of black humour that gives it a stark raw edge and a catchiness that can not fail to lodge itself in your subconscious.

Continuing in the same vein is 'Cupid', a song to strike fear in every cherub as Eve brutally and angrily spits out where she's going to stick Cupid's arrow, and it's not in the traditional place that Valentine's Day depicts. 'Cupid' is a classic punk pop number; captivating, racy and enticingly funny it's hard not to be lured by its sheer catchiness. Throughout Jaed deliver a dose of upbeat punk in its purest form. Offensively witty and yet infectiously endearing, this is a band that's impossible to disregard as it shakes you from the first fast beat and retaining its grip to the last breathe. Compellingly addictive.