D.I.Y glam punk.
The ghosts of many punk/rock bands hover around this record; often there are strains of The Ramones, occasionally an injection of glam pompishness from vocals that are reminiscent of Marc Bolan and a touch of Iggy and The Stooges weaves its way through many of the heavier tunes. It’s all pretty old school in essence, but wrapped around all the retro nods is a much more contemporary veil that helps to pull a record that may have sounded old fashioned very firmly into the present day.
“Night Bus or Milk Train” is quite a difficult album to pin down; it’s often quirky and imaginative with some interesting touches. The D.I.Y ethic is very apparent, it comes through in the lo-fi production and really suits the kinetic style of the record and you can’t help but admire a band that’s been releasing all their own output since their formation in 2002. However, the album as a whole is a bit hit and miss, it swings too often between styles that jar when placed together, which means that it’s not particularly cohesive, and makes it hard to keep focussed when you’re listening. Strangely, indie darlings the Moldy Peaches spring to mind on some tracks and even weirder is the 60s tinged pop feel that brings to mind chart bothering ‘kids’ McFly.
There are some good tracks peppered here and there, like ‘Dial Xero’ which has 60s kitsch pop appeal blended with the indie sweetness of the Moldy Peaches and ‘Out Faking the Fakers’ which starts with a Hell Is For Heroes style riff then dives full on into glam punk territory. The good moments on this album really stand out because quite a lot of the time there are riffs and tunes that sound very much like something you’ve heard before. That familiarity can become annoying quite quickly, because you either long to hear the bands it reminds you of, or you spend the entire time trying to remember where you heard a riff like that before. There is certainly bags of potential here, and the decent tunes are really good, showing you just what this band are capable of, it just feels at times like there is a lack of direction, and that unfortunately can distract you from really listening to the songs.