The Fanatiques

On many occasions, I've gone on record declaring that '77 era punk rock is my favorite music ever. I love that classic '77 sound, and I've often lamented that there are not as many current bands in that vein as there used to be. So it's always great to hear newer bands that play that kind of style and really do it well. France's Fanatiques are totally up my alley. They're particularly inspired by those early U.K. punk bands that were the forefathers of Oi! - like Slaughter and the Dogs, Menace, and Cock Sparrer. By no means are The Fanatiques attempting a straight copy of that sound. But they certainly aren't trying to hide what their influences are. Their excellent debut EP can be heard in its entirety on YouTube. When I first saw the song titles "Where Are They Now?", "Where Have All The Bootboys Gone?", and "I Don't Like You", I thought maybe all the tracks were covers! But they're all original songs. Vinny from The Clean-Cuts (7" on No Front Teeth Records) is the singer, and his snotty vocals give these songs a little bit of a different feel than you'd expect. Imagine, if you will, The Queers playing street punk. That might sound a little odd, but these Frenchies really pull it off! The melodic guitar leads are definitely of a '77 vintage, and of course there are ample opportunities to sing along and pump your fist. If you dig further into Vinny's YouTube channel, you'll also find some songs from The Clean-Cuts. They had more of a '77 powerpop/punk sound, and were also quite good. Seems I can always count on France to get it done!



-L.R.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCucDR0UyJn-sLZJ5jPFvEug 
http://uneviepourrienvinyles.bandcamp.com/album/the-fanatiques-ep