That Sean Huber is a talented so-and-so… Not content with being the drumming, metronomic lynchpin to Modern Baseball’s elastic sound and the heartfelt troubadour behind Steady Hands, he’s one half of blue collar heroes Vicky Speedboat. That the two piece – completed by co-conspirator Will Lindsay (W C Lindsay/Steady Hands) – is just as good as his other more noted acts emphasises just how strong ‘Two Years No Basement’ is as a debut EP.

Packed with Japandroid-like tales of life on the road, living life, falling in love and drinking too much (beer, whisky, tequila – name your poison and I bet Vicky Speedboat has it covered), ‘Two Years No Basement’ is the sort of record where authenticity and autobiographical references seep from every pore. It’s lock-ins in bars after closing and the excitement of watching the big game rolled into one as tracks such as ‘Roman Candle Fires’ and ‘Tequila Resistant’ rattle past with verve and passion.

Two Years No Basement by Vicky Speedboat

Indeed, it would be apt to describe ‘Two Years No Basement’ as ‘Celebration Rock’ for people who are still living the glory days of their youth. For all their similarities, ‘Two Years No Basement’ possesses a fearlessness to it, replacing the world-weary undertones of the Canadian punk-rockers masterpiece with the expectation that any night of excess is likely to be replicated very soon.

Pick of the very strong six songs here has to be ‘Passing Through Wales’, though. Bounding along, it’s a glorious mess of dual vocals, harmonies and hooks and comes armed with a chorus to die for.

It would perhaps be easy for ‘Two Years No Basement’ to be a throwaway diversion from the jobs that pay the bills. Instead it’s every bit as vital as anything Huber and Lindsay have done before. More please!

4.5/5

‘Two Years No Basement’ EP by Vicky Speedboat is out now.

Vicky Speedboat links: Facebook|Twitter|Bandcamp

Words by Rob Mair (@BobNightMair)