The Unknowns, Story of the Year, Bud Rokesky: New album reviews

The Chats aren’t the only punk powerhouse carving up South East Queensland, and this outfit has more than one thing in common with them PLUS Story of the Year and Bud Rokesky.

Brisbane punk band The Unknowns

This week’s album reviews from The Courier-Mail (ratings out of five stars):

PUNK

The Unknowns, East Coast Low

(Bargain Bin) ***1/2

Like Donald Rumsfeld said, there are known unknowns and unknown unknowns. And these Unknowns deserve to be known. From the opening chords of Shot Down you know they’re a no-nonsense, economical, straight-ahead punk/power pop outfit. And if they sound familiar it’s because they’re singing from the same songbook as fellow South East Queensland punk players The Chats, with whom they share two members (now including Chats frontman Eamon Sandwith). Buzzy Dianne has a pleasing melody, then there’s the staccato rhythm of Rid of You. And the rollicking rhythms and playful harmonies of Beat Me, Thinking About You and I Don’t Know would do the Ramones proud. In true punk tradition it’s all quick and to the point, no song overstaying its welcome. The southeast hasn’t been this spoiled for punk choice since The Saints’ peak.

POP PUNK

Story of the Year, Tear Me to Pieces

(SharpTone) **1/2

This might be their sixth album, but Story of the Year have lost none of their intensity. On the contrary, Tear Me to Pieces is the sound of a band hitting its straps. It’s melodic pop punk in the same vein as A Day to Remember, Simple Plan and Bring Me the Horizon, with crunching chords and pounding percussion that’s slickly produced and accessible. The title track opens the album in uncompromising fashion, followed by the uplifting, anthemic harmonies of Real Life. Afterglow is as melodic as it is in-your-face, while 2005 is a medium-pace bittersweet reminiscence. Resident power ballad Use Me showcases Dan Marsala’s vocals, while on Dead and Gone he sings: “Why does it feel so good to let you go/Thos is the death of something beautiful.” And rolling ballad Sorry About Me ignites into an electrifying chorus. It might feel a little samey by the end, but fans will nevertheless lap it up.

COUNTRY

Bud Rokesky, Outsider

(Rainbow Valley/Warner) ***

Whether it’s Rocky, Brisbane or Imbil in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, country crooner Bud Rokesky is a product of Queensland, and evokes the state’s wide open spaces on this his debut album (with a little Nashville influence thrown in for good measure). You can hear every waver of his dulcet tones as he tells stories and paints pictures of life, love and the land. Feel-good groover Baby & I celebrates a marriage and the simple pleasure of Saturday night dancing by an open fire, while Love My Baby More channels ’70s singers such as B.J. Thomas. There’s the steel guitar and shimmering harmonica of 3 Daughters and the folksy Million Hearts, while the inimitable Hayley Mary of Jezabels fame guests on Tell John, the bittersweet tale of a child of prostitution. Winds Roar sports a doo-wop rhythm, and sparse acoustic ballad Louie mourns the absence of a wayward brother. It all adds up to a promising debut from a country talent to watch.

Originally published as The Unknowns, Story of the Year, Bud Rokesky: New album reviews