The new Aussie punk record is here!
Over the last few years Vintage Crop haven’t just honed their craft, they have to mastered it. With angular riffs, abrasive Australian punk twang and larrikinism all being staples of the Melbourne punk sound; it’s incredibly impressive how Vintage Crop have delivered something so familiar and yet simultaneously so forward thinking.
It’s the familiarity that has sadly been lost with the closure of pubs.
But, from the second ‘Serve To Serve Again’ kicks off there is something about the tuning of the guitars that immediately gives you the comforting hug of anything Mikey Young mixes.
Expanding on his vocal range, Jack Cherry has started really dabbling between moments of singing and yelling; a really cool contrast that is on show at the end of ‘First In Line’. In a way it reminds me of throwbacks to The Vasco Era and Howl/Hunting Grounds who were always partial to this style of vocals.
‘The Ladder’ is ruled by tongue in cheek observational lyricism. Lines such as “I’ve been told my statue has just started construction,” paint quite a story of elite wealth and family hierarchical values, which leads to quite an incestual anecdote concluding with a line about the narrator’s sister, “I thought it was wrong, but she is pretty attractive,” that got me giggling.
While ‘The North’ delivers a slightly more down tuned subdued approach, ‘No Praise’ is the kind of straight up punk song I know my dad would happily drink a pint of Coopers Pale too.
Although the rhythm sections of ‘Tension’ immediately grabbed me for it’s likeness to The Saints, ‘Jacks Casino’ easily marked the standout track for me, mainly due to it’s impressive changes in tempo and constantly changing riffs.
Honestly, if you’ve ever been into Australian pub rock at any point, this is the local release of 2020 to check out.
Serve To Serve Again is out Friday, August 7 2020 via AntiFade.