{"id":17722,"date":"2014-10-28T14:27:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-28T14:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-the-smith-street-band-throw-me-in\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T08:48:35","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T07:48:35","slug":"album-review-the-smith-street-band-throw-me-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/album-review-the-smith-street-band-throw-me-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: The Smith Street Band – Throw Me In The River"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Smith Street Band<\/b> have started receiving some very serious acknowledgement from the punk rock community in recent times, and with just cause. The boys from Melbourne, Australia have been touring their hearts out, taking their rabble-rousing, pulsating folk-punk sound from shore to shore, and luckily for us lot giving the UK a great deal of attention in the process.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s more to this band than just hard work, as their third studio album will attest to. These guys have got songs \u2013 really fucking great songs. And in \u2018Throw Me In The River\u2019<\/i> they\u2019ve created a record that has to be among the nominations for the finest punk rock album of 2014.<\/p>\n

If I\u2019m honest, the first time I saw these guys under pseudonym The Lee Hartney Sex Drive at Mancfester I wondered what all the fuss was about. They sounded okay, not great \u2013 maybe I was too drunk or possibly distracted by Throwing Stuff\u2019s superb \u2018Not My Chancellor of the Exchequer\u2019 <\/i>t-shirts on the wall next to me. However, it was clearly evident that the crowd loved them, and I mean loved them.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Then supporting The Menzingers a month later it clicked. It was one of those situations where if you\u2019d walked into the venue halfway through their set you\u2019d have thought they were the headliners, such was the fervour stirred up in the crowd and the passion with which they sung every word back. With Jeff Rosenstock from Bomb The Music Industry!\u2019s production they have captured every ounce of this spirit and love of performing on the record.<\/p>\n

For the uninitiated, singer\/guitarist Wil Wagner\u2019s thick aussie accent takes some getting used to \u2013 mostly just because you\u2019re so used to hearing this kind of sound sung by a Brit. But once you get familiar with it you realise Wagner\u2019s voice is a real driving force in the band, capable of warmth and charm and at the same time full of strength and exhilaration.<\/p>\n

\u2018Something I Can Hold In My Hands\u2019<\/i> is the stirring, explosive opening number, and it\u2019s theme of new beginnings and finding out how to enjoy life against all odds, as expressed by the lyrics \u201cfor the first time in my life in my life I\u2019m smiling when I wake\u201d<\/i>, sets the tone for the rest of the record. It\u2019s followed by the equally engaging and heartfelt \u2018Surrender\u2019<\/i>. You wonder when the first bum track will arrive, and it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u2018Calgary Girls\u2019<\/i> is a genuinely moving, slightly more delicate track about a beautiful relationship that couldn\u2019t last, and then \u2018East London Summer\u2019 swings along for the ride \u2013 big, bold and ready to party as hard as possible as Wagner pleads “give me East London summer give me North Melbourne – summer!”<\/i><\/p>\n

The Smith Street Band<\/b>, whilst more than competent, are not the greatest songwriters you\u2019ve ever heard, but they more than make up the shortfall with their zest and commitment, and the fact that every song comes loaded with an enormous chorus that every single crowd on their tours is going to sing at the top of their voice. These guys are going to break more larynxes than hearts.<\/p>\n

The crowning glory of the album is title track \u2018Throw Me in the River\u2019<\/i>, which contains a chorus so blow-your-hair-back powerful I defy you to play it loud and not get a lump in your throat the first time you hear it.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve been able to say this about enough albums I\u2019ve listened to in 2014 \u2013 but \u2018Throw Me in the River\u2019<\/i> is an essential purchase and I\u2019ll be surprised if I hear a better release this year. If you\u2019re not already on-board then go get it, go see them and enjoy one of the finest new bands to become part of your collection.<\/p>\n

5\/5<\/p>\n

‘Throw Me In The River’<\/i> by The Smith Street Band<\/b> is out now on SideOneDummy<\/b>.<\/p>\n

The Smith Street Band<\/b> links: Website<\/a>|Facebook<\/a>|Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n

Words by Alex Phelan (@listen_to_alex<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Smith Street Band have started receiving some very serious acknowledgement from the punk rock community in recent times, and with just cause. The boys from Melbourne, Australia have been touring their hearts out, taking their rabble-rousing, pulsating folk-punk sound from shore to shore, and luckily for us lot giving the UK a great deal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,8181],"tags":[5879,2843,1977,7961],"class_list":["post-17722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","category-post","tag-album-reviews","tag-sideonedummy","tag-the-smith-street-band","tag-throw-me-in-the-river"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAlbum Review: The Smith Street Band - Throw Me In The River - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Smith Street Band have started receiving some very serious acknowledgement from the punk rock community in recent times, and with just cause. 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