Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys – Rot
Between them, the Agitated and R.I.P. Society labels have some of the best bands; in recent times alone these include the likes of Miss Destiny, White Dog, Straight Arrows and The Living Eyes. Hot on all of their heels and now on album number two come Sydney’s Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys and (just get over the name, ok) the four-piece are unsurprisingly reminiscent of many a scrappy punk-rock band, the same powerful guitars as on their 2013 debut turning out the same fuzzy riffs, the same gruff vocals scuffing the production, but it’s all so damn likeable it really doesn’t matter.
Slack melodies come run through with DIY jangles straight from the golden era and, never afraid of a solo, Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys are more retro than they are vintage these days. All the ingredients for an abrasive racket in place though, Rot’s edges are rounded off by a magnetically loose energy, the stench of well-worn denim and the pleasing bleed of Aussie accents further taking the listen off in the direction of classic rock ‘n’ roll.
The storytellers’ ages are irrelevant yet these are the tales of youth: rough and ready, eyes bloodshot, the wrong side of dangerous, but still the right side of cool. These bad boys have been up all night doing everything they shouldn’t and it translates into a generous tumble of guitar patterns, fun-time choruses taken in turn by any of the guitarists and, of course, into Nic Warnock’s filthy bass work (he who coincidentally runs R.I.P. Society too – applause all round!). Rot is thus the undisputed sound of best buds making the best pub-rock you ever heard and miraculously doing it without coming on too laddish – the sort of fellas you need in your life both literally and musically then.
Every time you think things can’t get better, they simply do. Effortless and glorious, “Victoria” is downright anthemic in its probably (unfairly) soon-to-be-overlooked niche. Equal to fellow Agitated/R.I.P. Society graduates Royal Headache, equal to the very fashionable Sheer Mag too, the atonal vocal here smears out the titular chorus spectacularly. Naïve, optimistic and hopelessly life-affirming, “Thing Called Love” is even stronger. You just want to pogo along and share in its celebration of life, the ramshackle vocal barely hanging on to the melody as if the singer were already torso-deep in the crowd. Adding to the breathless brilliance, most tracks weigh in around 2.5 mins too, helping make the whopping 7-minute closer, “Turn The Page”, feel all that more epic. Its screamed refrain of “I feel alright about life!” is as euphoric as it is heartfelt, rampant sax latterly encouraging the jam late on into the night.
Rot is exactly the sort of half-hour long record you would only ever expect to find battered and beer-ringed and definitely not from a smoke-free home, if you were to ever find one at all that is. It’d be a well-earned surprise then to get a fresh copy in your sweaty palms at any time, but you’d be very wise to do so right now.
Best track: “Thing Called Love”
~Rot is released November 10th 2017 via the collaborative efforts of Agitated and R.I.P. Society.~