Real Rejects - Summer of Spite

After four years of making joke references to Thee Artificial Rejects as if they were real musicians causing chaos in TJ Cabot's life, I can now introduce the Real Rejects: TJ Cabot (Phone Jerks, Nerve Button) on vocals & guitar, Jesse Leblanc (Feral Trash, Outtacontroller) on guitar, Claude Doiron (Nerve Button, Bad Luck #13) on bass, Sonic Hz on keyboards, and Cam Murphy (Thee Requiems, Ghostown Belle) on drums. This is the next big thing in garage punk rock 'n' roll, and today you can get into the fan club on the ground floor before the rates go up. 

After all those years of solo recording in his home studio, Tyler needed a band to play with live. And so very quickly, TJ Cabot and Thee Artificial Rejects simply became the Real Rejects. You know you're on fire when you sort of stumble into one of the best band names in years. Seriously: if you saw a record, and the band name was the Real Rejects, you would instinctively know it was cool. The band's debut digital single is called Summer of Spite, and it features two songs written about one particular day in 2023. Summer of Spite is a great title for this single. Tyler sounds really pissed off — as if you told him that there's no such thing as good pizza in the Maritimes and now he's determined to make you pay. "Eighty Five (On the Inside)" is a raw, riff-driven garage rocker featuring a wonderfully nasty vocal. "Crossed in the Supermarket" is in more familiar TJ Cabot territory of a fast & frenzied punk rock 'n' roll punch in the face. While the former track is based on  real events, the fact that Tyler didn't have to release this single from prison suggests that certain artistic liberties may have been taken with some of the outcomes. The latter track is about shopping for alcohol while inebriated, and it may be the first great "post-pandemic" anthem I've encountered. I can't say I've ever heard a garage punk single before where I thought both songs were practically short stories. Perhaps when it's all said and done, Summer of Spite will be worthy of a full-length movie! If you prefer your summertime jams on the spiteful side or simply love garage punk, the Real Rejects are the band for you.

-L.R.

https://realrejects.bandcamp.com/album/summer-of-spite-digital-single-2024