We first featured ScotDrakula back in 2012 but it has taken until now for the Melbourne trio to put out their début album. The band make a ramshackle brand of garage rock, adding elements of blues and contemporary indie music to create tight, boisterous songs that are as fun as they are catchy. Frontman Matt Neumann has a voice that sounds experienced in shouting choruses and that’s exactly what he does, leading the fun with his raw-throated vocals.
However, beneath this energy is an edge of menace, some sense of distrust or paranoia that refuses to leave even in the most catchy, upbeat songs. It’s as if they are having a good time but always expect someone to tell them to stop, and their lyrics and delivery have that adolescent ‘fuck you’ sort of posturing, a pre-emptive show of contempt to anybody watching. You get the impression that ScotDrakula can feel the good times being pulled away by various forces, be it the police (as on ‘Pig Eyes’ or pressures to “grow up” and earn money/get a job (‘Booth at the Mall’) and are willing to protect what they have from these outsiders.
The album could be read as a manifesto, an advert for likeminded individuals and a defiant two-fingers to those who don’t like it. With this in mind, the titular refrain on ‘Kill What You Love’ sounds like a cult leader seeing through an initiation process, a demand that you throw away your preconceptions and have some god-damn fun!
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/172915270″]