Night Birds – Midnight Movies (No Way)
Night Birds’ new EP is less raw than their demo, less surf-y than their first EP, and probably the best recording they’ve released so far. This EP is chock full of surf-rock inspired guitar riffs underneath punchy, snotty vocals in the vein of 80s California punk. Its lyrical content pays a lot of tribute to the 80s B-Horror circuit, which the band describes as being “the punk rock of films.” Night Birds are certainly not the first band in punk rock to display affection for B-Movie culture, with particular respect to the horror side of things. With many of those bands, however, I feel like the band relies too much on their gimmick to be taken seriously. This is not the case with Night Birds. The movies, the gore–the shtick, if you will–are secondary to the music, which is fast, catchy, and draws from varied enough influences to keep it interesting at all times. It’s the lovechild of a wild one-night stand between Jello Biafra and Dick Dale, with Lloyd Kaufman sneaking his way into the bed in the middle of the night. Freaky stuff. This is great work from a very promising band.
You can catch Night Birds live at Gallery 5 on Tuesday, October 26th at Shitty Halloween with No Friends, Dead to Me, Southside Stranglers, and Grown Ass Men.
Night Birds – Midnight Movies (No Way)
Night Birds’ new EP is less raw than their demo, less surf-y than their first EP, and probably the best recording they’ve released so far. This EP is chock full of surf-rock inspired guitar riffs underneath punchy, snotty vocals in the vein of 80s California punk. Its lyrical content pays a lot of tribute to the 80s B-Horror circuit, which the band describes as being “the punk rock of films.” Night Birds are certainly not the first band in punk rock to display affection for B-Movie culture, with particular respect to the horror side of things. With many of those bands, however, I feel like the band relies too much on their gimmick to be taken seriously. This is not the case with Night Birds. The movies, the gore–the shtick, if you will–are secondary to the music, which is fast, catchy, and draws from varied enough influences to keep it interesting at all times. It’s the lovechild of a wild one-night stand between Jello Biafra and Dick Dale, with Lloyd Kaufman sneaking his way into the bed in the middle of the night. Freaky stuff. This is great work from a very promising band.
You can catch Night Birds live at Gallery 5 on Tuesday, October 26th at Shitty Halloween with No Friends, Dead to Me, Southside Stranglers, and Grown Ass Men.
