Most of us who go to see a lot of bands have at least one show that stands out for unexpected and conspicuously low attendance. I have a handful, as it happens, most notably seeing The Young Gods play to around twenty-five people when touring ‘Super-Ready’ (they were absolutely mind-blowingly good), and Rosa Mota following the release of their Steve Albini produced third album perform to just thirteen of us (they played an abridged set and split up shortly after). That list also includes, in April 2015, seeing Demob Happy play in York to me, my mate, the other bands and the sound guy. To this day, I will never understand why, beyond it having been a Monday night in York, since they’d drawn a decent crowd in the city a few months previous – and they were good. At the time, they’d just released the ‘Young & Numb’ EP and they were building a buzz that spanned from the NME to The Guardian. Debut album ‘Dream Soda’ solidified their reputation for grungy pop tunes of quality.
Ten years on, they’re still here, and serving up album number four. And this one’s a little bit different. Born out of some challenging personal circumstances and recorded in the desert in nine sweltering days, there are hints of desert rock and stoner rock vibes, and it suits their big, riffy style just nicely.
‘Power Games’ makes for a strong start, phat, fuzzed-out bass leads the track which boasts no shortage of bounce and swagger, and then the riff properly kicks in – by which I mean the volume makes a monster leap and everything goes large, a brain-buzzing blast of distortion which is pure awesomeness. If the formula feels a bit Royal Blood, leeway is granted on account of the quality of the execution. The real question is, does the rest of the album maintain this level of quality?
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The answer to that question is not a direct one. On ‘The Grown Ups are Talking’, Demob Happy are at their most exploratory. ‘No Man Left Behind’ is built around a relentless Krautrock groove and keep on pulsating for five and a half minutes. The bass groove is insistent, but it erupts in a squall of noise. Elsewhere, there are some fiery salt-rock cuts and some monster riffs (‘Judas Beast’ is exemplary), and the album’s range means it takes a bit if time to assimilate. But in making the most of their creative freedoms, Demob Happy have delivered a cracking album.
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