The Drolls / Gentlemen Rogues - Split 7" - White Vinyl (/100)

Snappy Little Numbers (2024)

What do you get when two of my favorite active bands and one of my favorite active record labels hatch a plot for world domination?  In my opinion, you get possibly the best split 7" of the last five years.  I have to go back to 2019's Chestnut Road/Navel split to find a release that has two bands I like this much on.  Both bands are in top form as well.  These aren't throwaway cuts or album rejects, these songs are all grade A rock.

The Drolls check in with two songs.  "Burned Out" is another top shelf song in their still burgeoning pantheon of great songs.  It's a mid tempo song that certainly has some similarities with the sort of thing that Denny was cranking out in Sicko's later days, with its bouncy chorus and excellent guitar riffage.    The second song, "Happy Hour," is a bit different, which it would be as it's a cover of a Housemartins song (which I am unfamiliar with).  It has a quicker pace, lots of lyrics and really nice backing vocals in the chorus.  I'm sure all three Drolls are probably tired of the constant Sicko references, but it's hard to ignore one of my all time favorite bands and the fact that two of that band's members are in The Drolls.  But The Drolls are more than standing on their own, away from the shadow of Sicko.  Two more hits that only make me want to hear more.  Give me LP 2!

Gentlemen Rogues are following up their stellar Surface Noise full length from earlier in the year.  I'm sure the Rogues are equally sick of me talking about the band Jill when I write about them, but it's impossible for me to hear Danny's voice without calling back to seeing Jill play in a garage in New Jersey in the 90s.  Once again, we've got two stellar songs, an original "Young 'Til We Die" and a Rolling Stones cover, "Connection."  While Danny's voice certainly makes my think of Jill, the music is definitely different.  I think I've mentioned before, but this is the grown up version of pop punk, with more similarities to Superdrag than to Zoinks.  Tons of vocal harmonies on songs that I just want to listen to over and over.

As has been my way for the last several years, I have been lamenting the lack of records coming out this year that are exciting to me.  If I could have a few dozen more that are as good as this split, I wouldn't have to do so much complaining.  This one everybody should go grab as quickly as their fingers and internet connection will allow.

The Drolls / Gentlemen Rogues - Split:
https://snappylittlenumbers.bandcamp.com/album/split-sln-250

The Drolls - Novelty Rock Monthly Singles Club, Vol. One 7" - Café Au Lait Vinyl (/250)

Snappy Little Numbers (2023)

This 7" is volume number one of a one hundred percent confirmed monthly series where The Drolls are writing songs in the style of other bands.  The first fifty of them come with a nifty, hand crafted Drolls 45 adapter.  Very swank.  On this record itself we have two bands that I'm not sure I envisioned being paired together, but perhaps that's my lack of imagination showing.  MC5 and Guided By Voices are the subjects for volume one and The Drolls have delivered two songs that each band would be proud to call their own.

The MC5 inspired song is "Kick Out The Jammies," a profanity laced ode to not going out, staying home and being comfortable.  It's remarkable how The Drolls captured the spirit of those old MC5 songs on this.  There's the same sort of heavy, garage-influenced guitar riffing, a pounding, propulsive rhythm section and an appropriately screeching guitar solo tightly packaged into a sub-three minute song.  Oh, and it's about pajamas and not wanting to leave the house. Perfect.

On the B side we have "I am a Data Scientist," which is meant to evoke the feelings of listening to a Guided By Voices song.  Now, there are approximately five hundred thousand Guided By Voices songs I have not heard, so I'm not exactly sure where in the catalog they are pulling this particular influence from, but this does sound closer to a traditional Drolls song.  It's on the slower side of the spectrum, with maybe "Before The Fall" being the song I could come the closest to comparing it with, but "I am a Data Scientist" is still has a unique enough sound that you can tell the band is attempting something different. Of the two songs, this is the one I personally like the best.

This was a fun record and luckily the band and label have made it very clear that this is the first of many years worth of 7"s paying homage to various bands.  There's absolutely no ambiguity whatsoever that every single month for the foreseeable future there will definitely be a new Drolls 7" released in this same vein.  There is no chance whatsoever that this is a one time release.  Promise.  While no one has told me personally, I assume that June's volume two will feature songs in the style of Boston and Gorilla Biscuits.  I'm also fairly certain that July will pay tribute to the musical stylings of The Locust and Wang Chung.  I don't know about you, but I'm counting the seconds until those records are released.  I've started counting now.

The Drolls - Novelty Rock Monthly Singles Club, Vol. One:
https://snappylittlenumbers.bandcamp.com/album/novelty-rock-monthly-singles-club-vol-one

The Drolls - That Puget Sound LP - Blue Vinyl

Snappy Little Numbers (2022)

Merry New Year.  When I start writing about records each January, it’s rare that I’m not playing catch up on records from the prior year or discussing records I got for Christmas.  We’ll get to those, but amazingly enough, the first write up of 2022 is about a record that’s coming out in 2022. Today in fact. It’s The Drolls.

I have to start by pointing out that Denny and Josh were in Sicko and Julie was in Chinchilla.  Sicko is one of my all time favorite bands, which makes Denny one of my all time favorite songwriters. Now, several decades after the last Sicko album, we get a full length album from The Drolls. No surprise…it’s excellent.

While I wouldn’t The Drolls sound exactly like the Denny Sicko songs, I can't imagine anyone not liking this if they did like Sicko.  If these songs came out on a theoretical fifth Sicko album a couple of years after You Are Not The Boss of Me, I don't think I would have batted an eyelash.  These really feel like the direction Denny was already starting to go on that last Sicko album.  It's kind of a stupid thing to say, but all I really want to get across is that these sound like Denny songs.  Maybe a little bit more melodic, although the pace is still very upbeat and fun. Oddly enough, the slowest thing on this album is probably a redone version of an old Sicko song (“Rehashed: Rehashed”).

Everything on here is just great.  From the second that the opening ripper "Getting Old" takes off, through the chunky guitar riffs of "Worse Things" to what is probably my personal favorite, "Bad Ear."  And oh yes, I am for sure giving extra points for the reference to the title of one of my top three Sicko songs.  2021 wasn't the best for music though there was a late blast of great records that saved the year.  If this Drolls record is a sign of what's to come in 2022, this is going to be a hell of a year for new music.  Had it come out in 2021, there's a good chance That Puget Sound would have topped my album list last year.  Here's to 2022.

The Drolls - That Puget Sound:
https://snappylittlenumbers.bandcamp.com/album/that-puget-sound

The Drolls - Follow That Dinosaur 7" - Purple Vinyl (/300)

Top Drawer (2018)

I have been waiting for this 7" ever since I first got word that it was in the works many moons ago.  Having previously heard The Drolls' contribution to the 14 Soda Punx compilation and being lucky enough to have seen their performance at the Seattle Pop Punk Festival back in January, it seemed pretty safe to assume this debut 7" would be top notch.  I assure you, top notch it is.

It's impossible to write about this without mentioning that Denny (and now Josh on drums, though not on this recording) was in Sicko.  Sicko are one of my all time favorite bands and when I listen to this 7", it's hard to not draw comparisons to Denny's past work.  I can say that if you liked Denny's tunes in Sicko, it's inconceivable to me that you wouldn't like these two Drolls offerings.  At the same time, they don't sound exactly like Sicko as there's something unique about what The Drolls are bringing to the table.

"Follow That Dinosaur" starts out with a bouncy, driving rhythm in the verse that eases into one of those trademark Denny choruses.  Equal parts punchy and catchy, this sounds exactly the direction I would have hoped Denny would have gone on a fifth Sicko album.  "Alternate Timeline" starts off immediately making me think of one of my favorite Sicko songs, "Little" off of Chef Boy R U Dum.  It's got a similar quiet/loud/quiet dynamic and man does that make the hook feel even more powerful when it kicks in.  But again, though there are elements of Denny's prior work, these songs go off in their own direction and stand on their own.

These songs are perfect.  I love this record so much.  If I have one complaint it's that there are only two songs instead of twenty.  I hope this is the first of many, many Drolls releases in the future.  Especially hopeful of a full length real soon.

The Drolls - Follow That Dinosaur 7":
https://thedrolls.bandcamp.com/album/follow-that-dinosaur-alternate-timeline