Album Review: Dead Bars – Regulars

Seattle-based Dead Bars led by John Maiello are a hard band to categorise, which is a 100% punk approach to the craft of making music. The instant impression on the first listen, formed perhaps by that Seattle provenance, is that there is a strong grunge undertone to this record, but that does the song-writing excellence on display here a huge disservice. Yes, there is plenty of dirty guitar and howling feedback but there is also an emphasis on hooks and melody. Dead Bars as the grunge Beatles? Stranger things have been proposed, I’m sure.

This is an organic record which feels like an honest document from a band working to their own agenda without any deference to fad or fashion. That is not to say that Regulars is self-indulgent. Far from it. Dead Bars have the happy knack of making this anthemic yet quite complex guitar-heavy punk rock sound easy. It isn’t. There is a lot going on. Under the production supervision of Jack Endino (Nirvana, Mudhoney, Soundgarden), this was never going to be an overproduced record and the result is a coherent and structured collection that ebbs and flows naturally.

Often thoughtful and anthemic (Producto Toxico), at times introspective (You Never Left), Regulars is a dynamic and powerful record. There is a strong and very American power-pop sensibility at play in the more up-tempo songs (Pink Drink, Time Takes Away, Lucky) that lift the emotional tone and sets up those more introspective moments. Dead Bars also have the confidence to throw in odd and occasionally disconcerting musical moments, none less than Tattoos, which repeats the revealing mantra ‘All my friends have tattoos/but I don’t have any tattoos/They want to remember something/And I want to forget everything’.

The bar references are apt, as these songs feel like a hospitable place for outsiders seeking like-minded company. The tension between the driving and sometimes intricate music and a naturally insouciant yet gruff vocal reflects this lyrical theme; the world of Dead Bars is a safe and welcoming one for freaks. I’m in.

Regulars can be pre-ordered via A-F Records here