Take Me to Town

Barely out of high school, these Melbourne 'bombers are truly airborne. Unlike so many fast-paced, hard-rockin', wild, high-energy Aussies, they've garnered notice in the U.S. despite the 20-hour plane ride: their hot, 2006 digital debut EP Sirens led to airplay on L.A. staple Indie 103, and then to similar love from Little Steven's syndicated radio/satellite garage roundup. Listen to "On + On," "Always Complaining," and "It Goes Off" leading off this first LP, and you'll swear an old dog named "kick-ass, big-guitar, super melodic, punky, heavy power pop" has become a puppy — the kind that jumps all over you despite protestations. Leader Hugh Gurney has a deep-throaty voice you wish more had, and his three mates match him for supercharged pulse, hot-button grooves, and that old, lost art: backbeat. Outside of one iffy, oddball anomaly Beatles/Stones-referencing, Oasis-y song called "Eleanor's Lullaby," Skybombers don't sound like anyone (closest: Idlewild!), but you hear hints of 1966 Who/the Move, plus a swatch of Aussie history from Radio Birdman to first LP Hoodoo Gurus to You Am I (and the first power chord reminds of Stiff Little Fingers' "Wasted Life"). Yep, this is a nation — a continent! — that's turned out a few hundred such smokin', roarin' outfits since the Saints showed the way circa 1975, and Skybombers are just the latest largess of such a lush gusher. But damned if they don't stand up to long lineage; e.g., you'll see why X (the U.S. one, not the old Aussie one) hired them as tour openers. Don't miss. ~ Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover, Rovi