Forty Pounds Of Premium Art Don't Come Cheap, Honey

Today's post about The Bug Club is a rare gem in this neck of the woods. A proper album review! Of a new album, released in the last fortnight! By special guest, regular commentator and gig buddy Mike!

All of which means of course that the quality bar for this blog is temporarily raised. It all started with an email earlier this week.

Hi Khayem,

My new work timetable gives me a couple of hours on a Monday morning 

which i have no obvious use for eg 

I have to be in work by 11.30am but bar food shopping what do you do with that?

Anyway this morning I was listening to the new Bug Club album and 

thought I would jot down my thoughts to share with others 

as I know a few people who would get into them if they listened long enough.

So then i thought if Khayem wants / needs a guest post he could use it if he wants - 

no worries if you have them all planned or it doesn't read up to standard 

but i thought you might find it amusing anyway - the album is a corker!

Anyway here it is - feel free to delete!

cheers

Mike

 

Two things became quickly apparent:

1) "no worries if you have them all planned or it doesn't read up to standard". Mike's being kind here. As a regular visitor, he knows that I frequently fly by the seat of my pants and that even having a post planned 48 hours in advance is something of rarity. As for what I consider to be up to standard, well, read my own efforts and you'll have a view on that too!

2) Mike is absolutely spot on. The album is a corker!

But enough of my yakking, let's party! Over to you, Mike.

The Bug Club are a three piece from Caerleon, a settlement just outside Newport in South East Wales. They are a band that have been playing approx. 200 gigs a year and came to my attention when I attended a BBC6 Music Festival in Cardiff in 2022. They were the first band on at Y Plas but quite comfortably, for my money, the best of the evening. I have seen them since in Bath (at the sadly demised Moles- it shut a week later) and in Frome. Live they are a force of nature…

Anyway, back to the new album. They have recently signed to SubPop and maybe this had an influence on the tracklisting of this album as it reads much more like a traditional album compared to previous efforts. 11 tracks coming in at roughly 30 minutes and we are done. As Edwyn Collins once said ‘Don’t Shilly Shally’ and there’s no ‘shillying’ or ‘shallying’ here.

 

First track – War Movies. Now before I go on, it is fair to say that the Bug Club wear their influences on their sleeve. Do I mind? No. Are they as derivative as The Lemon Twigs who I saw last week? No. 

 

However you can see that their music harks back to a number of bands from 1973-1996 and on this occassion I’m hearing elements of early Franz Ferdinand. What I would say it is FF with excellent humour and whilst I don’t feel the Ferd’s had no humour I think TBC win out in humorous lyrics. It’s all over in 2 mins 24 but we get references to Donald Pleasance, The Dambusters, Saving Private Ryan, Bridge on the River Kwai and even Zulu! It’s noisy and it’s grreeeaaattt rock!

Second track – Quality Pints. If I’m honest it reminds me of those B-sides that The Undertones did on their early singles. ‘Quality’ songs in many ways and fun but not something that is going to win the Nobel Prize for literature. Fast furious and gone.

Next up – Pop Single – this really reminds me of The Divine Comedy in the chorus and is their attempt at a pop single! But with knowing humour… it’s a really strong track and if there was one song that could be a hit on the album – here it is…deffo written tongue in cheek.

Best Looking Strangers In The Cemetery - It is my least favourite track on the album although Tilly’s bass playing is excellent. The beauty of most TBC songs if you aren’t a great fan the track will be over very quickly.

 

A Bit Like James Bond - Now, for me this is why I love The Bug Club so much. Great tune, ridiculous lyrics that actually make me LOL - fab! Sam writes about all these things that make him like James Bond such as… being gluten intolerant, buying duty free cigarettes (in bulk!), liking casinos, loving Shirley Bassey and hating the baddies. Just go and have a listen. Tremendous.

So you listen to the previous song and wonder how life gets any better and then We Don’t Care About That starts and.. well its just fab! It has its roots in T Rex's Get It On (possibly) but the lyrics help it rise above. It’s about the person you know who talks incessantly about stuff you don’t want to hear. 

 

 

There is an irony here – one particular lyric refers to the traffic on the M4 and the Brynglas Tunnels. Now whenever I leave home to go to Cardiff and someone says how long it will take I moan on about these tunnels – they could have been talking about me (not in a good way of course!). Also references to people who think a song is by the Beatles when it obviously isn’t – we’ve all met them! 

 

Lonsdale Slipons – Described by Stereogum as a ‘Post-Punk Supernova’ with an ‘infectious bassline’ – TBH I think all of Tilly’s basslines are infectious.. ‘These drugs are tasty as hell, I think I’ll have another’ – great song but say no to drugs kids!

The last 4 tracks are over in a flash – whilst I feel these songs aren’t as strong as the previous seven they all have their highlights. Actual Pain has a classic mad Sam solo and Cold. Hard. Love. ‘I’m naked as the family dog’… (That’s the lyrics, not me writing this review, thank goodness!)

So it’s their most consistent and strongest album so far and if you are sat reading this and feel that you need to get into a ‘youngster band’ they will be playing near you soon (or just have!). It’s great to hear a band that have the same influences as bands we liked in yesteryear but are clever enough to make it fresh and funny! 

 

(NB The Robster did a great ICA on The Bug Club on The (New) Vinyl Villain blog so this is also worth checking out). 

 

9/10 – for people who like ratings!

Mike
 

 

Mike's enthused about The Bug Club for some time but to be honest I hadn't actually listened to any of their music until The Robster's great, nay, superb Imaginary Compilation Album back in June. If you haven't heard it, get over there quick whilst the links are still active. And The Robster's sleevenotes are brilliantly funny and informative, as you might expect.

And, because it's Friday, as an additional treat, here's a six-song session that The Bug Club recorded for Marc Riley and Gideon Coe (BBC6 Music) on 2nd September.

Thanks as always for your contribution, Mike, it's prompted me to buy the album!

If you enjoyed this, you'll be pleased to hear that there will be more of Mike's musings, sooner than you think though not necessarily in the way that you might expect. Watch this space...