Any band that contains one ex-founding and one current member of The Apers is enough to catch my interest. Any band that contains that as well as having The Ramones, The Misfits, and Duran Duran in their listed influences makes for one super curious little Ramona! Consisting of Marien Nicotine, Ivo Backbreaker, and a couple other great players in the European punk rock world, Giant Eagles were founded in 2005. Starting out as a project under a different name(The Ramoneroonies) for fun, they hadn't released an LP but that changed just recently. After listening to a few songs on their facebook page, I had my ear to the ground and finally it was announced, "Giant Egos" is out!
The songs were recorded, mixed, and mastered by Simon Speechless at Simon Baken Audio Engineering between 2005 and 2014. He's worked with anyone from The Apers, to The Windowsill, to Kepi Ghoulie and his capabilities are fantastic! Producing was done by both Simon and Marien, the co-founders of Giant Eagles. I really, really love this cover. Designed by an artist named Silas, a portrait of an Eagle in a leather is so well done and such a perfect fit to the band. Upon investigating his other work due to my interest in the cover I discovered that the rest of his work is absolutely breathtaking. Check him out! Release happened on May 1st by Shield Recordings on LP with download code. Additional distro is being done through Monster Zero, Striped Punk Rock Shop, and soon through Interpunk. Also in about a month, "Giant Egos" will see a release on cassette by Stop Rec Play LTD, who is a newer label based out of Palermo, Italy with a great vision. Stay tuned for that! Digital only can be found on iTunes.
"Best 80's Synth-Ramonescore Ever" is their self described style and it doesn't take more than a few seconds for it not only to make perfect sense, but become genius while hearing the first track "In The Backseat". The sound they create appeals to me on two different levels, first as a Ramones obsessed girl and then second, that I'm old enough to have new wave roots in my introduction to punk rock. So essentially, yes I am an old punk rock girl haha. Anyway! This dozen of songs mostly written by Marien, who's already established himself as a wonderful songwriter over the last nearly two decades are nothing short of insanely catchy. Kickass 80's Ramones sounding guitars(think the Richie years), killer bass lines, simple yet strong drums, and of course keyboards/synth. Simon's vocal tone is superb. Overall lovely with a lot of range and that adds a great atmosphere to the already cool backdrop of the music itself. I was enamored with the speed of the first track but there's also some great mid-tempo pieces like "It's Gonna Take Some Time" and "You Lied". The Misfits reference comes through hearing a darker theme in "Total War" and "Howl Of The Wolf" that is a big favorite for me. My number one track is closer to the end, "A Town Called Loneliness" with it's longing in the lyrics and beautiful composition. Things come to a close with "Bye Bye Baby" and my only complaint? It's all over too soon! I'm addicted so it gets played again. Good job, Giant Eagles.
It's been nothing short of faith reaffirming to see so much good classic pop punk/punk rock come out this year but it's also something that makes me really happy to discover an album like this. It stays true to the foundation of what I hold dear while mixing in another element, but doesn't blend into obscurity or sub-genre. Giant Eagles have earned an instant spot in my top ten this year for that. I highly recommend you give "Giant Egos" a listen(stream here) and add this record to your collection in one of the available ways ASAP. Follow them on facebook as well, because they claim to easily have enough material for two records at the moment! They have won me over and I will be waiting to support anything they do.
It's been nothing short of faith reaffirming to see so much good classic pop punk/punk rock come out this year but it's also something that makes me really happy to discover an album like this. It stays true to the foundation of what I hold dear while mixing in another element, but doesn't blend into obscurity or sub-genre. Giant Eagles have earned an instant spot in my top ten this year for that. I highly recommend you give "Giant Egos" a listen(stream here) and add this record to your collection in one of the available ways ASAP. Follow them on facebook as well, because they claim to easily have enough material for two records at the moment! They have won me over and I will be waiting to support anything they do.
Giant Eagles are...
Simon Speechless- Vocals, Guitar
Marien Nicotine- Guitar
Ivo Backbreaker- Drums
Ox Accelerator- Bass
All songs written by Marien Nicotine except, "In The Backseat" by Simon Speechless. "21 Bodies" and "The Howl Of The Wolf" by Nicotine and Speechless.
Tracks
1. In The Backseat
2. Total War
3. It's Gonna Take Some Time
4. Heartbreaker
5. Howl Of The Wolf
6. Rather Be Stupid
7. Got Stabbed
8. You Lied
9. 21 Bodies
10. Born To Follow
11. Town Called Loneliness
12. Bye Bye Baby
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