Singles + EPs

EP Review: Guns On The Roof

[EP: Last Orders]
[Label: Unsigned]

Guns On The Roof return with a three-track EP, a follow up to their debut album ‘Pure Punk Rock Therapy’. The band from Leeds cite the Clash, Rancid and the Sex Pistols as their influences, which is pretty accurate description of their sound, as it covers a lot of ground from pop to punk. The first song, ‘Last Orders’, sounds like a cover of a lost Rancid B-side from ‘Lets Go’ and seems to be some sort of drinking pean or an ode to pubs. This is followed up by ‘So Tired’ which is along the same lines and has a bit more of a rock n’ roll feel (enter Clash influence) with hints of some early skate/pop punk, whereas the last song, ‘Michael Myers’ (and my personal favourite) is more of a straight forward skate/punk song. Some of the guitar work on ‘Michael Myers’ reminds me of Strung Out at their best (Twisted By Design-era), without the guitar-work becoming too prominent in the mix. I could easily see these guys touring with Four Foot Fingers, Fletcher and Jesse James 5 or 6 years ago across the UK on one of those Deck Cheese or Household Name Records summer package tours.

My only gripe with this release is that they deceptively call themselves part of the “next generation of UK punk” in their press release. I know I haven’t been living under a rock and this style of music was incredibly popular in the mid 1990s (around the time Epitaph could seemingly do not wrong), so how can they justify this being the future? Half of the bands they mention they draw influences from have been defunct for a couple decades and the other half have retreated to mainstream rock practices; so neither “new” nor “punk”, if you ask me. Hell, if anything (and I hate admitting to this) what is known as modern emo is probably more progressive and “new” than this. The passion and commitment these guys have is pretty evident, which is all that matters live on stage, but I can’t help and be sceptical about regressing back to tried-and-tested formulas rather than actually breaking away from them to really create something new. Is this the future of UK punk? No. It is however an excellent trip down memory lane to remember how things used to be.

For fans of: Green Day, Strike Anywhere, Four Foot Fingers
Band link = Guns On The Roof

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