- Our second project from Stiff Richards this year? What a bloody blessing this is! Well, not two new projects. The first was released through one of the best modern punk labels in Erste Theke Tontraeger, and I will never fail to give props to those purveyors of punk’s top shelf. It’s the little things, man. The Melbourne crew blasted a battering ram of an EP with Dig: a vicious deluge of practise shed sweat, slightly off played notes, and hints of stale cigarette smoke wafted through the air of this utter, relentless in its attack. That brings us to State of Mind, quite literally the best use of an imposed lockdown. I mean that. Fuck your Marie Kondo clean outs. Fuck your bread making habits and fuck your faulty always broken down team calls. Yes, the venom is slightly reduced, it’s a tad less angry, but it’s much more well put together but Stiff Richards have peaked lockdown productivity with a super garage punk.
Admittedly, it took me a few run-throughs to wrap my head around this new approach after having loved their previous release to death. This is far more Royal Headache than it is Drug Church. After some slight readjustment, it all clicked like arthritic knees. From the off, Point of You, no pace has been trimmed from Stiff Richards forwards fervour. No steps have been missed. A song that harbours one of the greatest insults, in my mind: being told you’ve no point and/or purpose. Regardless of whether the verbal lashing is directed at a human, object, or abstract, it is lathered throughout, a pub-punk belter. Some guitar grit has been widdled away with power chords punching away at the filth, replaced with a jangled drive. The performances from front to back more than make up for the slightly more refined aesthetic. A tight nine tracks go by as quickly as they come with the middle of the album offering some variation to the all out assault. Here’s where we meet Mr. Situation. This track progresses around basic riffs and builds wonderfully on what it follows. A waywards note here and there and swells of feedback peppered in adds that flourish of perfect imperfection. Got It To Go is the ideal hot tag after Mr. Situatuion has done its part. Again, it orbits around one centrepoint. Plugging in a slacker vibe to layer some charm onto proceedings, it humanises the crew. Chopped chords lunge over themselves and sound like your mate’s band at a house show good enough to piss off nosey neighbours. State of Mind gets us going again in the three song run to close out the record. Down strummed bass buzzes with straight forward drive throwing us into Glass. This throbs for the entire two minutes, and when it recommences after the bass and vocal breakdown, it capsizes on a high. Speaking of high, Keep Off The Grass is high octane shambles and houses a killer guitar solo. Its chorus consists of a repeating mantra we’d never heard before 2020, over a frantic snare bash. Back is that bass rumble to wrap up the album with Fill In The Blanks. Closing on a note as strong as they started, Stiff Richards nail their sound and put it on full display.
There were many things I didn’t expect this year: Canterbury Bankstown avoiding the wooden spoon, me starting playing a card game I hadn’t played since I was a kid and a new record for Stiff Richards. Not all surprises are bad, and what an enjoyable one this was.
- Matt Lynch.