Magpies & Vagabonds – “Giver”

It’s always great when a new punk rock band emerges upon the scene. It comes as a bit of surprise when you find they live close to your home town. Listening to the sound of Magpies & Vagabonds you will be imagining somewhere cool like New York, rather than Warwickshire. Despite the unrock n roll location they have still delivered a great EP.
Opening track “Under A Crescent Moon” immediately shows that this is a band destined for big things. It has the feel of a Gaslight Anthem song, in the way it perfectly mixes punk rock attitude with a hint of pop sensibility. “Carousel” keeps things going with a similar sound and you can certainly see that the band features a former member of another recent great UK punk rock band, Sharks. The carousel reference again shows an appreciation for the type of imagery used by The Gaslight Anthem. Importantly, we are not talking blind imitation, the band still have their own unique feel with a more British, gritty feel to their sound.

They also nicely expand their sound further on “Fifth Business” which has a much wider feel to the song. It chugs along with a great feeling of melody and rhythm. “The Long Con” is another step change with a real modern twist added to this essentially classic punk song. The beat has an almost disco/funk sound. It’s the sort of track you would like to think The Clash would be releasing now if they were still around. Final track “The Bigger They Come” has a very relevant title as it’s a great big rock song. It also hints that maybe Magpies and Vagabonds are aiming for the arenas rather than just the rock clubs.
Magpies and Vagabonds is not only a great band name but also a good indicator of their sound. Whilst they have stolen a few shiny melodies, there is still that sense of danger about them. The last time we heard an EP by a new band this good it was by the brilliant Road Home. Both these bands actually share a very similar sound and you can tell they have the same influences. All we need is for both these bands to follow up the promise of their brilliant EPs and deliver those life changing debut albums. After that, maybe we could get a co-headline tour before the arena come calling!!