In November of last year, Pardon Us and Only Strangers released a new six-song split featuring three songs from each band.
The first three songs are from Liverpudlian three-piece
Pardon Us, who feature former members of Flamingo 50, Down & Outs (who are
reuniting to play Manchester Punk Festival) and Town Bike. Their first song is
titled Warfarin Blues. Playing some indie pop punk that is becoming more and
more popular there is a beautiful and simple charm to the song. This type of
music always put a smile on my face; it's super accessible and easy to listen
to whilst retaining a great punk attitude. The next song, Only Pain, is played
at a faster tempo than Warfarin Blues and definitely has more of a punk rock
feel to it. There is a great maturity to the song that will attract older
listeners but it’s filled with enough hooks to grab everyones attention. The
drums are played at a great pace throughout and create a wonderful backbone to
the track and the use of dual vocals really gives the song a lot of life. The
final Pardon Us Song is titled Stinking Rich. This song is about stepping over
people to make more money - I don't like these kind of people and I imagine
most of you don’t either. The chorus in particular really stands out,
completely changing the melody of the song to a shout-it-out gang vocal style.
One line that particularly stood out to me was "Your Name Is Richard, But
I Will Call You Dick".
Only Strangers are a four piece melodic punk band from Stoke-on-Trent
who are influenced by bands such as The Lawrence Arms, Alkaline Trio and Hot
Water Music. The first song from the Only Strangers side of the split is called
La Liga. The Hot Water Music influence is completely evident in this track as
it feaures dual, gravelling vocals and the darker toned duelling guitar that
the Gainesville legends are known for. The next song, Enemy, has more of a
catchy pop punk sound to it, it’s full of hooks and catchy lyrics. Just past
the middle of the track there is an excellent interlude where the band show off
all kinds of musical ability including one hell of a guitar solo before
finishing with one final sing-along. The final Only Strangers song and the
final song on the split is called Failed To Notice and sees the boys take us on
a rollercoaster of highs and lows with a series of tempo, key and melody
changes. This is my favourite song on the entire release (and they're all very
good). I love the rollercoaster the band manage to take you on and it's a song
that I can imagine being so much fun live.
Only Strangers and Pardon Us are two bands who, whilst not
being overly similar in sound, do have at least one thing in common - they
write absolutely brilliant punk rock songs. Definitely two bands I will be
looking out for much more of in 2016.
Sream and buy the split here: https://pardonus.bandcamp.com/album/pardon-us-only-strangers-split
Like Pardon us here: https://www.facebook.com/wearepardonus
Like Only Strangers here: https://www.facebook.com/onlystrangersuk
Sream and buy the split here: https://pardonus.bandcamp.com/album/pardon-us-only-strangers-split
Like Pardon us here: https://www.facebook.com/wearepardonus
Like Only Strangers here: https://www.facebook.com/onlystrangersuk
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