Now this is how you do it! U.K. trio Chinese Junk captured my attention last year when Big Neck Records released their Raw Deal EP here in the States. I quickly identified the "kings of pound shop rock" as a band of considerable promise. That promise has been fully realized on the full-length release Fly Spray — also released by Big Neck. Fly Spray is the kind of record I don't hear enough of these days — a throwback to the lo-fi garage punk budget trash that ruled the '90s. Imagine if the Rip Offs had been a little more into the Ramones and a lot dumber (in a good way). From the first chord, Fly Spray is a head-bobbing, toe-tapping, shout-along good time. Over the course of 14 tracks, the band crosses the two-minute mark only once (on the band anthem "Budget Stomp") and clobbers you with songs about electric chairs, unwanted callers, plastic surgery accidents, day drinking, pest control, and being overworked and underpaid. And the tender love ballad "I Don't Know What I Want (But I Know That You Ain't It)" is not to be missed. Seriously: it takes real smarts to write songs this stupid! Fly Spray is an absolutely brilliant effort and a shining example of what all garage punk should aspire to be.
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