Little Rocket / Sounds of Subterrania / Waterslide / Rad Girlfriend (2025)
Roach Squad is a band made of Hugo Mudie from The Sainte Catherines, Alex Keane from City Mouse, Sim Robson from nowhere else that Discogs is aware of and Graeme Philliskirk and Frankie Stubbs from Leatherface. Graeme and Hugo were also in Medictations with the late Dickie Hammond, and that group is what I see the most similarities to when it comes to the sounds of Roach Squad. And that's a good thing.
When you have two members of Leatherface in your group, with Frankie being one of them, the odds are really stacked that I'm going to be interested in your band. And Roach Squad does not disappoint, serving up the sort of gritty, melodic punk that in many ways is my absolute favorite kind of music to listen to. It has that 90s UK vibe, with gruff, but melodic vocals courtesy of Hugo Mudie on 12 of the 13 tracks. Now, while there is a definitely a part of me that's thinking to myself, "self, why is Frankie only singing on one of these songs," Hugo carries the vocal duties exceptionally well, just as he did with Medictations.
Frankie does step in on "I Wonder," which is a treat. But the rest of the time he and Graeme are holding down the band with excellent guitar interplay, with those trademark riffs and dynamics that have made me a fan of this sort of thing for 30 years now. It's a super consistent record from start to finish and while I wouldn't say that there's a specific song or two that stands above the pack, the pack of songs as a whole is pretty stellar. An easy recommendation as one of the best albums of 2025 so far. If you read this website even somewhat regularly, I cannot fathom you not digging this.
Roach Squad - Roach Squad:
https://roachsquad.bandcamp.com/album/roach-squad
No comments:
Post a Comment