When I was younger there used to be these two brothers who were the archetypical Punks in our town; being a small, fairly traditional English town they even earned their fair share of double-takes and probably thought they were fighting the system. Growing up, moving to the big city and gaining the all important benefit of hindsight though made me realise they were the least fucking Punk thing about that town, I’ve got more respect for the kid that still gets recognised on nights out for wearing a dinosaur costume on non-school uniform day. Those two brothers were the first thing that came to my mind though when I heard Ex Friends latest EP ‘Animal Needs’ and, as I’m sure you’ve guessed by now, that’s a bad thing.
In fact I’ve told you a little white lie there, obviously for dramatic effect, my first thought was actually – is this a joke? Because it really is that bad.
The EP’s opener, ‘Don’t Do It Like That (Do It Like This)’, starts on a Fucked Up style guitar riff, and that I could of got down with, or at least accepted, but it’s when the vocals come in that things get really bad; they are devoid of any style and are delivered in a juvenile, shouted style. Not that I’m against people shouting into microphones, I’m an advocate for it if anything, its just when everyone’s doing it. Shouting a word on every beat isn’t gonna make you stand out. Out of the two vocalists, the male delivery is the better of the two but that’s only because in the EP’s final track, ‘Fadeage (City Inspector)’, it’s almost comedic in its mad scientist delivery, but I’m not sure that’s the band’s desired response from the listener.
The whole EP then continues to follow the opener down this spiral staircase, straight into the toilet. ‘Word Police’ is just annoying in its yelping that can only be likened to a younger sibling or a Jack Russell, and ‘Real Life’ is like a musical caricature of itself. There’s just nothing that stands out enough to grab anyone’s attention, I honestly can’t even think of an audience that would appreciate Ex Friends, not even the cliche twins I mentioned earlier.
I feel like as time has gone by, the word punk has become completely meaningless, and now, rather than representing a political, artistic and inventive movement, it’s meaning is now merely a lazy excuse and has become synonymous with the word shit.
1/5
‘Animal Needs’ by Ex Friends is out now on Coolidge Records.
Ex Friends links: Website|Facebook|Twitter
Words by Shaun Cole
