The Exploders – 'The Exploders' (Rubber) Released 06/03/06

Rock revivalists, The Exploders, play raw, retro guitar music. Their classic three piece formula is fantastic, a really tight rock unit. Their self titled debut album is well written, well produced and great fun to listen to at dangerously high volumes. The only problem? The Exploders join a long list of soundalikes and fellow axe wielders all  trying to make a name for themselves as they try to recreate the raw sounds of 60s and 70s.

Despite this vast competition, ‘The Exploders’ do a great job of honouring this golden age of music. They’ve got an unrefined energy that permeates many of their songs, and a sound that’s reminiscent of bands such as The Kinks, The Yardbirds and Cream. ‘My Country Brain’ hurtles along with singer TJ Allender growling his husky lyrics over a simple blues/rock guitar riff, pulsating bass lines and tight drums, with enough time left over for a cheeky guitar solo. It’s a winning formula mimicked in other tracks such as ‘Gods Above’ and ‘Big Hair Revolution’, a cheeky look at the very retro-obsessed scene from which they have evolved. It’s just a shame that in recent years this formula has been manipulated and even exhausted by The Exploders’ contemporaries, such as the fantastic Young Heart Attack and The Datsuns (often a lot more successfully). 

The band do make up for this lack of originality with two unexpected treats, ‘Cowboy Jim’ and, ‘Fuzz Bomb’. Both tracks abandon the traditional rock backbone of the rest of the album; ‘Country Jim’, a great country blues number boasting a wonderfully mellow lap steel guitar solo, follows the story of, unsurprisingly, a cowboy called Jim and his love exploits; ‘Fuzz Bomb’ is charming in its simplicity – basic vocal lines, very underproduced, and backed by the humblest of instruments, the kazoo.

The Exploders’ debut album is not the most innovative thing you will hear this year. But if you couldn’t give a **** about originality, and want to rock you’re your hearts out this album provides the perfect opportunity.