The single 'More to Life than Peach' caught my attention a little while ago, and it makes for an appropriate opening gambit on 'Nasty Buffet', Schnapps' debut long-player (although with a total playing time of just 25 minutes, it's not particularly long. Still, quality beats quantity, right?) Garagey r'n'b' with massive swagger, it's a prime example of why less is more.
It sets the tone for the ramshackle racket that characterises the album as a whole: rough 'n' ready and completely without pretence, the songs have a live energy, unhampered by layers of polish and production. That is was recorded in just three days as 'the Ranch' in Partick (an area I spent almost five years knocking around at the turn of the millennium) is a virtue and only reinforces the direct approach the band's sound demands. The delivery is fast and furious yet still there's a slacker feel to the loose style of play and the drawling vocals.
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Soaked in whisky and Americana, Schnapps are perhaps the least Scottish-sounding Glasgow band I've ever heard – and I mean that as a compliment. Graced with a fairly – and I assume knowingly – iffy cover, 'Nasty Buffet' isn't a work of genius, and it's not an album that inspires awed listening and endless gushing about the band's musical virtuosity. It's an unpretentious, warts 'n' all squall of rock 'n' roll, making 'Nasty Buffet' a refreshing and rather tasty garage rock feast – unlike the strawberry bootlace that came with my copy of the CD, welding the pages of the press release together. No, I didn't eat it. It's still stuck to the pages, and I kinda like it like that.
Schnapps Online
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