Self-released, June 1, 2020
I don’t know much about The Dewees, but that needs to change.
The Dewees come from Japan and love Ramones, as any good people should. Prior to this, I’d only heard “Izzy Is a Punk” off the fantastic Pop Punk Mania Japan comp. In fact, from what I can tell, they’ve only released three other songs, and all are only available on comps. This 4-song EP, Back To The Beach, changes that.
The Dewees buzz with an excitement and energy that all Ramones-worshipping bands should. Buzzsaw guitars and quick drums are set off by 8th note hi-hats and timely crashes. But for The Dewees, the vocals set them apart. With some special reverb treatment, the singing on Beach seems unique in the Ramonescore landscape without sounding out of place. Basically, the vocals of TC Dewee drag me in.
Back To The Beach has no duds. I know, I know, it’s a little easier to bat one-thousand when you only have to get four of them right, but they do it anyway. My two favorites are the first two, “Dewee Bop” and “Out! Out! Out!”. Both have a raw Ramones thing going for them, with lots of hooks, catchy vocals, and super “don’t-I-know-this already” melodies. “Dewee Bop” has some of my favorite buzzing guitars on the record and “Out! Out! Out!” kills it with some great sounding cymbals, awesome “ooh” backing vocals, and a catchy as all-get-out melody singing “get me out out out of this world”. It’s so cool.
The other two songs, “She’s RAMONA” and “Back to the Beach”, are only a degree or two off from the others. Both are more Ramones worship (obviously), loaded with more hooks and dripping with melody, especially on the chorus of each. They just aren’t quite as sticky as the first two. But they’re close.
The Dewees have my attention. Now that they’ve got a few more songs to their name, maybe we’ll hear more from them. We can only hope. Until then, spin it again.
You might like this if:
- You wear a leather jacket all the time, even when sleeping
You might not if:
- You think leather jacket-wearing punks are “poseurs”
ryan is a reviewer and news editor for TGEFM. He’s very secretive, he might be an alien.
