Funeral Shakes “S/T”

Funeral Shakes were one of the bands that really blew us away at the recent 2000 Trees festival (see review here). They delivered a really rocking set and we were excited to see that they had fairly recently released their debut album. The question is whether that live experience can be captured on record.

Straight from “Over You” it’s obvious that the answer is a resounding yes. Songs like “Lightning” and “Circles” are straight up punk n roll songs. They’re in your face rock n roll songs that will get your heart racing. Without the visuals of their rockabilly look, they’re perhaps a bit more punk than we expected. Though they stay the right side of punk to appeal to us.

It is clear that the Funeral Shakes are well aware that melody remains a vital ingredient to any song or genre. Songs like “The Motions” and “Soap” have a wider commercial appeal and perfectly mix passion with a catchy tune. They really hit a peak with tracks like “Lovebirds” and “Hold Tight” which recall great bands like The Dead Formats or The Loyalties.

In our live review we mentioned the awesome Yo-Yo’s. On record there’s less evidence of that bands fifties rock n roll influences. But, in “Gold Teeth” you get a song that could easily have featured on their classic “Uppers And Downers” release. It has a great, almost pop, feel to it and will worm its way in to your brain so you’re humming it for ages. It’s a similar case with “Howl” which has some great hand clapping and “Safari” which is as catchy as hell. You get the feeling that these are the songs that could see Funeral Shakes really hitting it big. “Gin Palace” is another which fits that mould in terms of musical style, but is an instrumental. We’d love to hear a version with lyrics as well.

This is something we don’t get very often these days… a really great punk n roll album. Perfect for playing when you’ve had a Shit day at work and really want to let off stream. Full of passion but still with songs that have a melody that will stick in your head. We really should do all we can to support new bands like this. So make sure you buy this and get out and see Funeral Shakes live.