The Keefs - "Dim City Nights"

 

Delaware's finest punk rock and roll band is back with its first new music in eight years! The Keefs were one of the handful of bands that inspired me to start writing about music again back in 2011. After hearing the 444 EP, I was blown away by the band's gritty yet melodic brand of old school punk rock. 2014's Better Late Than Never LP remains an overlooked gem of modern-day American punk rock. Sadly its release coincided with the band calling it a day, and I feared that The Keefs would be forever relegated to "should have been huge!" status. So it was to my utter delight that I recently discovered that The Keefs have a brand-new digital single out called "Dim City Nights." I love that this two-track release shows two different sides of the same band. You've got the rock on the A-side and the pop on the B-side -- and both tunes are equally good. The title track is a straight-up rock and roll ripper with a massive shout-along chorus and righteous lead guitar work from the legendary Randy America (channeling Wayne Kramer in full glory). Bass god Vince mentions that The Keefs have finally found their "real" sound after all these years, and you can hear that direction on this track. This is a grade-A banger! If the Dead Boys, Backyard Babies, and early D Generation are your cup of tea, "Dim City Nights" ought to get your heart racing. On the virtual B-side, "The Fall" is more on the melodic side but still punchy as hell. I love how Dave's vocal is gutsy and packed full of emotion. For some reason, this track brings to mind Grant Hart fronted Husker Du even though it still sounds totally like The Keefs. This is essential listening for anyone who likes pop-influenced punk with balls. "Dim City Nights" is a truly triumphant comeback, and I hear there's more on the way. The world gets another chance to appreciate The Keefs. Don't mess it up, folks!

-L.R.

https://music.apple.com/us/album/dim-city-nights-single/1636061345
https://open.spotify.com/album/35LWHrOKdZROFEjiCcGr91
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMELN3WytzUuu7VIdFcvR2Q
https://www.facebook.com/TheKeefs/
https://thekeefs.bandcamp.com/

The Keefs make an album!

Let the record show that The Keefs were the first band I ever reviewed for this blog. You can look it up: The Keefs were F & L post #1 back on June 9th, 2011. It's quite possible that if this band had never existed, I might have never resumed my writing "career" (it's up to you to decide whether that's a good thing or a bad thing!). Three years later, we've finally gotten a proper album from this fantastic band. And while its release has sadly coincided with these Delaware greats calling it a day, Better Late Than Never is everything I hoped for and then some.

The Keefs described their sound as "old school punk meets rootsy rock n' roll with power pop melodies and a heavy glam influence". If you think that sounds like just about the coolest band ever, then you and I are of the same mind! Taking inspiration from everyone from the Stones to Hanoi Rocks to The Ramones to Thin Lizzy to the Buzzcocks to Social Distortion, this band created the perfect mix of pop and punk and rock n' roll. There a couple of things I especially like about Better Late Than Never. One is that the band didn't go overboard in re-recording older songs. Outside of "Compromise" and "Lemonade" (which both kick all kinds of ass!), the material is entirely new to me. The other thing that really impresses me is that you can hear how far the band's songwriting had progressed from its early days. Better Late Than Never encompasses the broad range of The Keefs' influences and tackles a wide variety of musical styles. Perhaps I anticipated arena rock power pop greatness in the vein of the Biters ("Friends") and balls-out glam/sleaze extraordinaire ("Keefs A Go"). But a lot of these tracks were total surprises in an entirely good way. "Address Song" is Jam-caliber northern soul, and it's perhaps the band's catchiest song ever. With its massive hooks and broad appeal, "Talkin' To A Wall" is what those more recent Aerosmith radio hits should have sounded like. Album closer "My Crazy Is Crazier Than Your Crazy" is that rare acoustic number that doesn't come off like filler.

As unassailable as their influences were, The Keefs never allowed themselves to be defined by them. Dave Janney's gritty vocals and melodic lead guitar quickly distinguished the band from all the "typical" glam/punk outfits of the world. And when I think of The Keefs, the first thing that comes to mind is an amazing rock n' roll band with heart, soul, and incredible songs. While the very title of the album humorously suggests that Better Late Than Never was a long time coming, I'm just thrilled that it's finally seeing the light of day. The world needs to hear this music, and this will surely go down as one of the better albums released in 2014.



-L.R.

http://thekeefs.bandcamp.com/
http://www.reverbnation.com/thekeefs

I pity the fool who doesn't like The Keefs!

Social media are rightfully blamed for facilitating the heinous endeavors of such entities as child predators, professional spammers, and Sarah Palin supporters. But on the good side, we self-appointed “critics” of music have been rendered far less harmful by this current state of technology. In the olden days, I could go on and on about how amazing a certain band was, and ultimately you had to take my word for it. If I sold you on a band, you were then required to shell out sizable sums of your hard-earned money, send away for a certain recording, and wait days or even weeks to receive it in the mail. And in the end, if you disagreed with my glowing review, you were out 4 to 20 bucks that could have been better spent on Nintendo games or VHS movie rentals. Technophobes and traditionalists may lament our brave new world. But in a lot of ways, it’s so much better these days. If I talk up a band, you can go instantly to one of their social networking type pages and listen for yourself. Hell, you don’t even have to read another word of this blog post if you don’t feel like it. There are links at the bottom of the page. If you agree with Martin Mull and believe that writing about music is as pointless as dancing about architecture, I’ll bid you adieu and kindly ask you to go check out The Keefs.

The first rule of rockwriting is that when a band can describe itself better than you ever could, you let them. So then: The Keefs play a “blend of old-school punk and rootsy rock & roll with the melody and hooks of power pop and hints of glam rock sheen”. Yep, that nails it. Sounds freaking awesome, doesn’t it? Makes you wanna join the fan club immediately, eh? If you don’t think so, you’ve probably arrived at this blog on accident whilst searching for the Rise Against Facebook page. I’ll go as far as to say that if you don’t think The Keefs are a good band, you probably won’t like any of the bands I plan on reviewing from here on out. That's right - this is a test. It’s not like I randomly picked this to be my first post! Now I’m not nearly as hip to new music as I used to be (there’s just so much TV to watch these days). But from what I've heard of the current wave of punk rock bands, The Keefs might be the best of the lot.

Songs like “The Let Down” (off The Keefs’ debut EP) really make this Delaware/Philly/New Jersey foursome stand out from the pack of typical punk revivalists. Singer Dave Janney has a raspy type voice that’s a little reminiscent of Mike Ness or Johnny Bonnel, but he’s no copy cat. He’s very appealing as a singer, bringing grit, guts, and a genuine soulfulness to his craft. I love the way this song integrates the contrasting aspects of the group’s sound - it’s hard-edged and powerful yet very catchy and melodic. Lead guitar hooks a la the Buzzcocks are awesome and abundant. And when the chorus hits, it really grabs you. You can tell you’re listening to a tight, clicking-on-all-cylinders band. From the high-powered guitars of Janney and Jimmie the Weed to my man Algy Suicide’s nimble bass work to “Two N” Kenn’s hard-hitting drumming, everything comes together like it should. Other songs like “Compromise” and the smokin' new demo “Tell Me When It Hurts” are very much in the same vein - aggressive and tuneful and straight-up great. The Keefs can slow it down (“Lemonade”) or put the pedal to the metal (“Luv Drugs”), and either way you’re getting memorable, rockin’ tunes. And although you might think it pointless to cover one of the greatest songs of all-time, “Bastards of Young”, the Keefs’ version rips so hard that I guarantee messieurs Westerberg and Stinson would wholeheartedly approve!

What I love about The Keefs is that it’s not their style that defines them. Sure, they play a genre of music that’s near and dear to my heart, and that counts for a lot. But more importantly, this is an out and out great band. They can play like nobody’s business. They write fantastic songs. They’ve got a likable, crazy good lead singer. And perhaps most importantly, they manage to put a fresh, remarkably non-derivative spin on a well-worn style of music. Of course they emulate all the right bands (look who they named the group after!). But at the end of the day, they don’t sound like The Clash or Dead Boys or Ramones. They sound like The Keefs. Bring on the album!

- L.R.

http://www.reverbnation.com/thekeefs
http://www.facebook.com/TheKeefs?sk=info