We first introduced you to Twisted Wheel last December, and since then the gritty punk-rockers have certainly come a long way. The band – who have already blagged nifty support slots alongside legends Oasis and Paul Weller – recently announced their own headline tour for this coming May. Next month will also see the release of the band’s self-titled debut album, Twisted Wheel, but if you can’t wait until then, TGTF were lucky enough to blag a preview of this highly anticipated CD this week.
The album kicks off with ‘Lucy the Castle’, an incredibly energetic tune pounding with vintage punked up vocals and amazing Brit-pop guitar riffs. It’s an excitingly apt introduction to the band, and leads nicely onto track two, ‘She’s a Weapon’, a similarly gritty tune which sees front man Jonny Brown spit his lyrics out with such furore it’s as if he’s mimicking a young Johnny Lydon.
‘Oh What Have You Done’ is lad-rock ala The Enemy in all it’s gleaming glory, while ‘We Are Us’ makes up for what in lacks in romantic lyrics (“You will never stop us, cos you are you, and we are us”) with awesomely fierce musical tune-age.
‘One Night On The Streets’ gets a little heavy vocal-wise come the chorus, but the track still boasts a super funky bass line and additively frenzied guitars. ‘Let Them Have it All’ is an energetic indie tune which will undoubtedly spark you off into an enthusiastic jig. Tracks such as ‘Bad Candy’ and ‘Strife’ continue the indie-fluence sound of the album, with Brown even sounding like a, dare I say it, Northern Jamie T come the latter track as he sings about “Sheila the dealer”.
The fast and furious ‘You Stole the Sun’ is certainly a rowdy album highlight. It’s humorously poignant vocals about stealing said star result in Jonny telling us how he had “to go and get some cream, to sooth my painful blisters, I ran down to the shop, I bumped into my sister, and she asked me where I’d been, and why I looked like a lobster, I blamed it on my ex, who’d gone to uni and I’d lost her”.
Penultimate track, ‘Bouncing Bomb’, brings the album down to a slower pace. Alex Turner-esque vocals seep through into this beautifully melodic acoustic track, and by side-stepping into a different musical direction such as this, the band successfully prevent their trademark punk from becoming too monotonous on the ear.
The album finally comes to a close with stadium-worthy ‘What’s Your Name’, an epic rock n roll tune compromising of powerful vocals, frantic guitars and heavy banging drums.
All in all, Twisted Wheel’s debut is a gem of an album. Think of it as their ‘Definately Maybe’. It echoes everything from raw punk, to Brit-pop, to indie, to soul. This young band are certainly ones to watch this year, and their forthcoming CD is something you should definately go grab come it’s release in April.
Tiwsted Wheel’s self titled debut is out on April 13th on Columbia Records. Pre-order it now.
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