Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Gulag Beach - Potato Mash Bash

Berlin-based Gulag Beach are many thousands of miles from the American West Coast, but everything about their music just screams California. Out on Germany's Rockstar Records, Potato Mash Bash is already the fourth LP from these old school beach punk destroyers. By now, the Gulag Beach sound is well established. And the band does not veer from it here. Think surf-tinged melodic punk with anthemic choruses, Rikk Agnew inspired guitars, and some top-notch rapid fire drum work. I'm hearing the influence of everyone from Youth Brigade ("DINTE, pt. 1") to The Adolescents ("Dollar Hero") to the far more recent Bodies ("Ode To Capitalism", "Generation Maybe"). This isn't anything you haven't heard before, but these guys pull off the textbook Cali-punk sound exceptionally well. There will always be a place for punk bands like this one that bring tremendous conviction and genuinely strong melodies to the table. And at a time when the world needs punk rock anthems more than ever, Gulag Beach sure endeavors to write them. These songs ought to get you fired up to take on the powers that be or...at least jump in the circle pit. Another excellent release from Rockstar! 



-L.R.

https://rockstarrecords.bandcamp.com/album/potato-mash-bash 
https://gulagbeach.bandcamp.com/ 
https://www.facebook.com/gulagbeach/ 
https://www.facebook.com/rockstar.empire  

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