I met this kid last summer at The Dial when my little brothers in The Coltranes were supposed to open up for Griever but Spencer got hammered to beat shit and sort of just lost it instead of playing. The input on his guitar just straight broke off and fell out like innards from a ravaged wolf-eaten corpse so he just started angrily going around the warehouse demanding that someone let him use their guitar. Eventually one of the bro guys who have/had some hand on lease for the warehouse that I never really understood, he loaned Spenny his black metalcore-looking guitar.
Unfortunately, this guitar was in drop-C with a fucking tuning lock on it (I didn't even know that was a thing) because this guitar was metalcore as fuck. The Coltranes play in standard tuning but the dude was like, "well just change'em to C" like drunken Spencer can just transpose his guitar and bass parts to a different key on the spot. To prove how awesome this guitar really was in the hands of a true musician, the dude took it back and wailed out some bitching solo right in Spencer's face. That scene has been seared into my memory for all time because it was so mind-blowingly ludicrous.
It got to the point where this whole fiasco had taken as long as entire punk rock set should take, so they just didn't play. Really that's more punk than playing. I think it was actually Evan who decided fuckit and walked out from behind the drums, livid as shit, because he had had it up to HERE with these Heath-en shenanigans.
The bro-guy realized that Spencer had finally lost it and was like, "You better not drop that guitar...You BETTER not drop that guitar" but Spencer went ahead and dropped the guitar. The dude charged at him but his own bro-friend stopped him before Mark really had to intervene.
("Mark" in this story is Spencer's dad, not Gravity Mark; he doesn't make an appearance in this one...I throw alot of un-contextualized names around and everyone I know is named Kevin Zack Chris Mike or Mark so I understand it can become confusing)
Anyway, this Jai kid was there at the show because his dad is friends with Mark; they're actually from Australia but were here visiting or something so why not check out the band, right? Too bad that didn't end up actually happening due to Spenny's antics but I think perhaps the effect had somehow been felt.
The Nuclear Family is a 4-piece garage punk band from Wollongong, Australia. I listened to their EP "Sick Sad World" during lunch at work and my very first thought was 'wow this alot like early Coltranes'. Not like the heavy feedback punk-core they play now, more like the grungy almost goofy basic punk that they try to deny ever existed.
I usually don't do cheesy shit like this but I'm gonna break the cardinal sin of reviewing and go track by track with this bitch. The first song "Videoman" is pretty basic 3-chord punk with a little mid-tempo part in the middle. I listened to it twice because my IT guy at work came to get me and show me a video of his band of old dudes Sounds Kill the first time, but even the second time around it didnt really do much for me but remind me of "Ugly Aldous" or "It Ain't Gravy". "Drown" reminds me of "Bleach"-era Nirvana and I guess its their single because they have a seperate listing on their Bandcamp for it in the Discography section. "Farmer John" is a bit more of a soft-loud plodder with a pretty cool chorus melody that's alot like the Pixies or something like that, maybe even like Silverchair or something, while the vocals are very reminiscent of Thom Yorke's sound in "Creep". Extremely 90s.
"Sally" is, again, very much like early Coltranes both in sound and subject matter. Somewhat threatening but still pretty basic punk riffing, with lyrics of a woman trapped in a basement. This one has female vocals. It opens with bass and ends with a seemingly-tacked-on-for-no-reason circle pit part. Very "Ugly Aldous." The next one "Get To School" is yet more punk-meets-Nirvana that actually also reminds me of another band in the old Coltranes circle, Sketchy D's old band Wretched Philiproy. This sounds alot like "Pills" right down to the strained vocals. This was probably my favorite, although they're all in the same lot. The last song "Intergalactic Fibs" (badass name) has a bit of a different vibe although not far off from the rest. The female vocals are back and more enjoyable. She's not doing some amazing singing or anything but I like her delivery. The music is kinda like The Hives just, you know, grungier.
Overall The Nuclear Family aren't too bad but they aren't too great either and I'm jaded because I'm so painfully familiar with music they sound to be emulating. I don't know if as a family friend Jai did have access to those old demos and early albums I'm talking about or not but the aesthetic is just so similar that it would be a bizarre cosmic coincidence if not. That said, Wretched Philiproy and first-wave Coltranes were both dope as hell and if they are some kind of influence that's what's up. That's cool there's an Australian member of the crew now. They dont play sloppy or anything like The fucking Gravitys, and they have a cool offbeat sense of humor that just feels like stuff from our little group. Plus this is just their first release it looks like, they'll develop a more defined identity as time goes by just like all bands do.
Well there ya go Jai, you asked for it!
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