Shield Recordings, 13 April 2021
The Shivvies sound like a run through of the Ramones through the years.
Okay, so if you read my reviews much, you’ll notice that I love the buzzing bubblegum pop punk of Ramones and a bunch of bands that range from “sort-of-influenced-by” to “blatantly-derivative-of” the originals. I don’t need much in the way of evolution or “originality”, whatever that means. Just gimme the songs. The Shivvies get where I’m coming from and are ready to mainline the sugar straight into my brain. And on this self-titled debut, they seemingly work through the Ramones career with aplomb.
Are you an original Ramones purist, the type that sticks pretty strictly to the first three (maybe four) records and ignores most of the rest. Opener “Goodnight Baby” has all the buzzing guitars I can hope for, great backing vocals, and a lead vocal turn that even hits like Joey. And the key change at the end lands right, too. This would fit well on Rocket To Russia, no doubt. All this to say that the song is pretty perfect. “Phone Booth” does a lot of these same things, though the vocal turn doesn’t mimic Joey this time. But the mid-tempo pop is so good. “Snitch” does the quintessential Ramones spell-out thing just right overtop a simple repetitive guitar hook. So does “SHIVVIES”. “Freak Out” digs right into my brain with the constant “freak out” refrain landing approximately every four seconds. “Chemicals” fits right in too, and the vocals on this one actually remind me a bunch of Jim Shomo from Dark Thoughts. “That Girl” is simply a great pop song played fast. It could work in a bunch of styles and eras. “Dimwit” romps around real quicklike and sounds like one of the nastier Ramones-era songs and clamps down on my brain with its repetition.
Maybe you give a little more wiggle room to Ramones. You’re good with the pop moves overseen by the likes of Spector, Gouldman, and Cordell. “Creepy Vibes” is maybe a first cousin to later era classic “Something To Believe In”. It’s got a great vocal hook, Joey vocals, and some earworm melodic bells, all adding up to great pop rock. “Have My Heart” mostly matches up, too, right down to the simple bells. The guitar lead on the bridge is cool, too. “Dizzy” is another one in this ballpark. It’s got a great, repetitive, and harmonizing “that’s where the girls are” hook and a lead guitar line that slays and it all ends up bringing the more melodic pop strains of Riverdales to my brain. And closer “Esperanza” with its mid-tempo pacing, twinkling lead guitar, sax solo, and boy/girl vocals somehow wouldn’t sound out of place on End of the Century or Pleasant Dreams, perhaps.
And for those of you who find nuggets of gold in the later stuff, you’ve got just a couple like that to latch onto here as well. “How I Feel” is one of these songs. It’s a mid-tempo stomper that ends up akin to one of the highlights from Brain Drain or Halfway to Sanity (and yes, highlights do exist on those records). “Crocodile” sounds sort of like a later Dee Dee offering and the repetitive vocal hook (“don’t do crocodile” maybe?) going into the “Russian boys, Russian girls” thing is an easy singalong. No real depth, just angst.
The Shivvies is a pretty awesome good time, one of my favorite pop punk listens so far this year. They get no points for moving punk rock forward, blah blah blah. But they write great hooks, play catchy music, and simply get me singing along. That’s all I really want.
Favorite song: “Goodbye Baby”
Favorite moment: the vocal hook on “Creepy Vibes”
Favorite whatever else: the pop hooks and universality on “That Girl”
ryan is a reviewer and news editor for TGEFM. He’s very secretive, he might be an alien.
