Self-released, March 26, 2020
Rotores hold up their end of a time-honored Brazilian tradition: loving the Ramones.
Brazil’s Rotores love the Ramones. They sound like Ramones in their guitars, certain vocal accents, and 4/4 drums, plus, they namecheck Ramones in the very first song. And they have a sort of Ramones-y looking cartoon guy on the cover. Really, they only challenge Ramones conventions with some guitar leads.
On Gum In My Head, Rotores toss off five songs that sort of pull from different Ramones eras, but mostly land them pretty well. My favorites are probably “I Don’t Wanna Be Tonight With You”, “I Want You”, and “She’s Gone”. “I Don’t Wanna” opens the record with some great lead guitar and a cool rhythm guitar riff. The vocals remind me just a little bit of Joey Ramone and the rhythmic hooks bully their way into my brain. Even at nearly four minutes, I really like it. “I Want You” lands near the end of the EP, blasting away with a fast tempo and some bouncy double-tap snare. The main guitar riff is cool and the chorus vocals dig in well. It also has a cool lead guitar near the end that sinks in just right. And the closer, “She’s Gone”, has the most obvious Ramones affectation in the hooky “whoa-oh-oh”-style vocal delivery. This one also has a pretty decent, unobtrusive guitar lead during the chorus that I like.
The other couple of songs on Gum In My Head aren’t bad at all, they just don’t land quite as well as the others. “Hey Girl” is mid-tempo with a cool hook on the chorus and some nice bubblegum-style backing vocals. And “My Baby Was So Good” sounds more like a Ramones song circa the 1980’s. It’s got pretty simple straightforward vocal hooks and a cool rhythm guitar riff, but also a guitar lead that doesn’t do much for me. Again, they’re pretty solid, just not my favorites.
Gum In My Head is a fun singalong record loaded with catchy bubblegum influences and buzzing guitars. If the Ramones stuff isn’t wearing thin for you, then check this out.
ryan is a reviewer and news editor for TGEFM. He’s very secretive, he might be an alien.
