On their debut album, ‘A Pathetic Youth,’ rising grunge-punk trio Gloo provide a raucous collection of bratty, scuzzy songs that are full of attitude. Songs such as ‘Force You’ and ‘Hit It’ thrive with urgency and rawness.
Throughout, the Sussex three-piece capture the mundane nature of working 9-5 while wanting to escape their fledging hometown of Littlehampton and downing a few pints. ‘Let Me Have Some’, ‘Act My Age’ and ‘Pig’ revel in youthful freedom, while the closing number, ‘Pissheads’ is a ready-made, beer-soaked anthem.
As ‘A Pathetic Youth’ shows, Gloo are partial for the occasional alcoholic beverage, not that we encourage such action. Nevertheless, we asked bassist Simon Keet and vocalist Tom Harfield to pick out their five favourite drinking establishments.
The Crown (Littlehampton)
Simon Keet (bass): Too many people compare this place to the Star Wars cantina – scum and villainy etc. It can get a bit like that past 2AM on a Saturday… There is actually a sick rock society there that puts on some great shows (Lars Promotions). Our drummer Mark also thinks The Crown FC could beat Brazil at a penalty shoot out…
Sandinos (Derry, Northern Island)
Simon: Guaranteed to have great ‘Craic’ in this place. We were supposed to have a gig here but it sadly fell through. It’s such a cool as fuck place though! Lovely people! Our only criticism is that they need to sort out their location on Google maps, we were walking God knows where trying to find it – we almost gave up on it.
The Worlds End (Brighton)
Simon: I used to think that this place was a bit sad. Now they’ve got games consoles everywhere, virtual reality stuff and a race track upstairs. It’s really worth checking out if you miss those Scalextric parties as a kid. Not too trendy either, I mean I know the above sounds trendy, but this is Brighton…
Bar 42 (Worthing)
Tom Harfield (vocals): This is our favourite local venue/bar, and the only one too… Mark 42 is doing great things helping bands from our area get a foot up. If you haven’t been there, you’ve got to go just to stroke the furry wall…
The George Inn (Littlehampton)
Tom: This is a Spoons, so it’s where we spent most of our teen years drinking every weekend. Very very good and very very cheap. I once had a delicious half pint of ruddles shandy here and have never regretted it since. One fireworks night, they even had karaoke!
‘A Pathetic Youth’ by Gloo is out now.
Gloo links: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Please drink responsibly. For the facts, visit drinkaware.co.uk.
