One of the great things about being a music reviewer is discovering a great new band just by chance on a random night out. Such was the case with me the other night on a sojourn over to the Essex wilderness of Harlow to see the Jim Jones Revue. Arriving at the venue early, I was just in time to catch a supremely tight three-piece garage rock group detonate the joint. “Name these guilty men!”, I cried.
A couple of quick enquiries later and I had the directions to check out this EP online. And it’s a bit of a cracker. The main point of reference for you is that Los Pepes’ frontman Ben Perrier may be known to some of you from his previous time fronting Oxford noise terrorists Winnebago Deal. But Los Pepes are definitely a bit of a different proposition – much more streamlined and tight than Perrier’s old band, songs like “21 Easy Street” and “I Ain’t Lazy” sound like the missing link between the Jim Jones Revue and the Hives – all fired-up snotty punk attitude and tight-as-you-like dynamics. It all adds up to one of the most exciting new bands I’ve seen this year and gets a hearty recommendation from me.
If you’re off to the JJR’s London gig this Thursday I’d strongly recommend getting there early to catch these guys.
You can download this EP from http://lospepes.bandcamp.com/album/los-pepes.
