Self-released, July 3, 2020
Matt Ellis puts out his fourth 4-song EP in 4 months.
Matt Ellis again! Never Was, Is And Never Shall Be confirms for me that there’s a bit of G.G. Allin infiltrating his brand of Ramonescore. Much like the previous Halfway To Insanity, Ellis pumps out four more songs that buzz and kick with the raw sound of the first Ramones record.
Never Was opens with the one-two punch of “Life On Hold” and “Walk Alone”, each heavily indebted to Ramones. If you’ve listened to (or read my review of) Halfway To Insanity, you’ll know what to expect. Buzzy guitars and lots of down and out energy. “Life On Hold” has a really cool vocal hook on the chorus that is quickly appealing. And the bridge on this one does this sort of surfy guitar riff that reminds me a bunch of Groovie Ghoulies “When the Kids Go Go Go Crazy” – I really like this one. “Walk Alone” has a little darker feel to it. Sounding something like a Dee Dee song circa Too Tough To Die, this one through me off when I first listened. But I’ve now come back to it several times and sort of like it.
And “Flowers In The Moonlight” is Ellis getting sort of poetic. It opens with the typical buzzing and then the guitars fall back into the mix a bit while Ellis sings romance-approximating lines like “the whole wide world is burning, but I feel nothing yet, please hold me right now, I’m not ready for this yet” and “right now you have my heart, but I’ll show you my soul”. The song is pretty decent and the words kind of elevate it for me.
On Never Was, Ellis skips the cover and instead does a rip of “Pinhead”, this one titled “Pighead”. “Pighead” does the count-in just right and the guitars and drums rip and vibrate like the original. And what starts as a listless “I’m doing nothing” sort of song turns quickly as Ellis gets disgusted with the news and shifts his boredom and repulsion into fury towards law enforcement, crafting a simple and effective take on the reckoning happening in America. It’s a pretty good blast.
Again, there’s nothing new here, not really. Never Was is more solid in the pocket Ramones worship. The altar is being built and Ellis is determined to keep providing the bricks. He might not always bring the bubblegum hooks of my favorite Ramones stuff, but he’s got the angst down pat and is ready to buzz through some more.
You might like this if:
- You like Matt Ellis’ stuff and the Ramones buzz within
You might not if:
- You haven’t liked this sort of thing in a while – this isn’t gonna change your mind
ryan is a reviewer and news editor for TGEFM. He’s very secretive, he might be an alien.
