Arts & Culture
Our very own Gig Monkey shares his thoughts on releases from As The Sun Sleeps, The Dustbowl Children and The Reaper

Gig Monkey, AKA Ed Dyer, once again sifts through the best music released by local artists. If you like the sound of something please do go and check it out. Send your reviews to ed@theocelot.co.uk

As The Sun Sleeps – As Good As Gold (EP)

Pop-Punk is a strange genre, it’s not particularly punk for a start, and despite the melodies, you don’t tend to find it troubling the charts either. However, inaccurate genre moniker aside, it is a genre that still shifts records, gig tickets and merch and refuses to go away.

The Americans perfected the formula with bands like New Found Glory but Swindonians ATSS prove anything the yanks can do, Brits can too. This may be a pretty straight copy of the US style, but you cannot escape the fact it is done really well. The production is slick, the melodies slicker and the songs fun, engaging and tongue in cheek (check out the excellent promo vids on the band’s YouTube channel as well). As with the music, lyrical generic conventions are firmly followed with a theme of nostalgic reflection running through the band’s songs, despite them not being too far past their teens themselves, and track 2 Florida exhibiting a commendable pride in their much maligned hometown.

Much as with Pop-Punk behemoths Blink 182, much of the excitement comes from some crazy and never predictable drumming, in contrast to the more conventional work elsewhere – drummer TShrimp is the closest I have seen to a human embodiment of Animal the Muppet live and is most entertaining.

So, no wheel re-invention at work here, but the band are the first to acknowledge this, and are happy and proud to fly the same flag as the bands they love. There is nothing wrong with this either, I love them for the single minded devotion, and they do pull it off well. If you are a Pop-Punk fan, this lot are definitely the next band you will love. If not, they won’t be.

The Dustbowl Children – Hollow Lands (EP)

Giving this EP a spin for the first time, you would never ever guess where The Dustbowl Children originate from. Despite the swampy blues and rocky folk sounds on offer, this is a band who were incepted in the slumbering streets of Malmesbury. Not only do they have a sound far removed from their origin, they seem to have virtuosic skills that surprise too.

Blending together southern rock, folk, blues and country traditions into an unusual but compelling sound both familiar and new at the same time: the slide blues rock is fairly recognisable, but with vocal and lyrical styles suddenly taking a folky turn in places you are kept on your toes wondering if a mandolin and a hey-nonny-nonny are about to break out. Fortunately just as this seems likely the band twist back to stomping riffage and all is well with the world.

With some super-slick slide guitar work alongside the powerful riffs and beats, this is a balanced and well worked recording that bodes very well for the future

The Reaper – Close My Eyes (Single)

Despite still only being 17, Witney band The Reaper have been rocking the scene for years. This single heralds the release of EP Building These Walls and is, as you would expect from this band, a hefty slab of powerful melodic metal.

This is a mature, considered and solid piece of work, as you would expect from a band of this experience, but as always totally at odds with their age. It has plenty of interesting twists and turns and the band manage to carve out their own sound - no mean feat in such a formula driven style of music. It leaves you excited for the rest of the EP, and wondering, how good are they going to be in five years time?

  • Our very own Gig Monkey shares his thoughts on releases from As The Sun Sleeps, The Dustbowl Children and The Reaper
  • Our very own Gig Monkey shares his thoughts on releases from As The Sun Sleeps, The Dustbowl Children and The Reaper
  • Our very own Gig Monkey shares his thoughts on releases from As The Sun Sleeps, The Dustbowl Children and The Reaper