Monday, April 18, 2016

New Gaggers single!


Yes, you read that right. Today's post concerns a new Gaggers single! And when I say new, I mean new for real. These aren't old songs that the band had lying around and decided to release. These are two brand-new songs for 2016. I know: you thought The Gaggers were broken up. So did I! But now they're back, and they're not going away anytime soon. You didn't think they'd let the world off that easy, did you?!

My first impression of this new single "Don't Follow Me" is that The Gaggers are showing quite a musical progression from their earlier releases. Every great punk band struggles with the question of how to move forward over time, and rarely is it the right move to keep making the same record over and over. The Gaggers seem to have found the perfect recipe for sustaining themselves as a punk band - updating their sound without fully abandoning their roots in Jabbers/Pagans/Dead Boys degeneracy. Marco's vocals are as snotty as ever, and the energy level is still at a 10. But I'm hearing way more going on in these songs - especially in the sophisticated guitar work and slick backing vocals. "Don't Follow Me" mixes elements of '77 punk and '80s new wave in a way that's highly creative yet still true to the band's identity. That guitar solo is something else! On the flip side, "1000 MPH" has a dark, desperate feel to it - demonstrating that "maturity" for a punk band need not come at the expense of intensity.

"Don't Follow Me" is available in three different versions from No Front Teeth Records. It's also available in the U.S. from Rapid Pulse Records - in a limited release of 60 copies. Wherever you may reside, don't sleep on this release. This is incredible new music from perhaps the greatest punk band of the present day. It's gonna go fast. Snag a copy here or here!



-L.R. 

https://www.facebook.com/ThE-GaGgErS-135749029825516/ 
http://www.undergroundmedicine.com/ 
http://www.nofrontteeth.co.uk/ 
https://soundcloud.com/umed-jim/the-gaggers-dont-follow-me 

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