Trashing The Dream

After my interview with the guys of Lil Daggers last week, I was thinking of some of the bands that I have come to love solely from their contacting me for the blog, otherwise I wouldnt be privy to their existence - an enviable position to be in for sure! Lil Daggers, Dead Meat, Civil Civic and Mr Dream are the first bands that jump out at me. And it seems that all of these bands are movin and shakin, which is mega rad of death.

But Im not here to talk about all of these bands, only one. I really like Mr Dream (dont believe me? Read here, here and here...). Whats not to love about a growling, sardonic, thrashy rock band that take their name from a character out of NES's Knockout? Nothing, that's what. And they have had their debut album, Trash Hit (through God Mode) for a little while now - and it is fantastic, better than I imagined it would be from their small releases throughout last year. They play within a number of genres, but also with the stereotypical tropes that fits a band aping their mentors - 'Walter' and 'Winners' are Black Francis vs Steve Albini naked armwrestles with David Yow adjudicating; 'Holy Name' may as well be the Pixies covering Nirvana covering the Pixies; or in the case of 'Crime', showing up contemporaries such as Japandroids in how to rock, whilst spitting out laugh out loud lines with wanton abandon. In fact, even 'Knick Knack' has sounds that evoke the likes of The Kinks and KC & The Sunshine Band (WTF?). The amazing part here though isnt that much of this is tongue in cheek - which it most certainly is - but that it is done with such verve, proficiency and dedication. These songs could come off as alt-rock's version of Me First and the Gimme Gimme's - instead we have a band that embraces its roots, puts it in a headlock, gently jabs them in the ribs then, arms interlinked, skip off to the pub to get plastered together whilst listening to the Misfits on the jukebox, and fuck everyone who thinks differently. How this works, Ive got no idea - how many bands do this sound nowadays? Its fun, loud, but above all sounds new - now that is a remarkable feat indeed...

Trash Hit is out now. Mr Dream will be supporting CSS and Sleigh Bells in the US this May - which is stupid really, because they are gonna slay all and sundry!

Mr Dream - Holy Name
Mr Dream - Scarred For Life
Mr Dream - Unfinished Business