The Wonderfools are a punk rock trio hailing from a small Norwegian town called Grua. Forming close to nine years ago, they have obviously had plenty of time to develop and mature their sound and song writing, and this ultimately shows in this 12 track album. From start to finish, it’s a polished, neat and tidy album, bulging with melody and catchy sing a long pop influence.
I always love getting European music to review, as the scene out there is so badly rejected in this country as opposed to American music, it’s interesting to see just what exactly is going on. This is my first real taste of Scandinavian music apart from bands such as The Hives. Fortunately this doesn’t sound anything like The Hives. If anything it actually does have a strong American influence, possibly Alkaline Trio, The Bank Robbers, even brief encounters musically with The Ataris. Plenty of lead guitar work and riffs layered above a solid rhythm section combined with the odd flamboyant guitar solo (track 12, “Naggin’â€) and one or two tongue in cheek vocal lines make this one a little close to the likes of Danko Jones lyrically.
Stand out tracks to be given a listen to in my opinion stand at “Tenderman,†“Hangin’ in, Hangin’ Out,†and “Do You Remember?†This band may have begun to combat front man Tomas’ winter boredom and always being sick of having a moose in his backyard, but it has developed into something well worthy of some decent coverage. Check out Wonderfools.
Pete
www.thewonderfools.com