It’s throaty punk rock all the way here, firmly in the vocal mould of Hot Water Music backed by The Bouncing Souls in a riotously enjoyable EP that might not exactly be the most challenging release you’ll have ever heard but it certainly is a lot of fun to listen to.
I lost the press release for this but I think The Briggs are a side project for one of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones (now that’s good journalism) and if I remembered that correctly then it all seems to fall into place. One listen to ‘Waiting In The Shadows’ confirms this – all gang vocals and soaring melodies combined with a Bostonian (and indeed Bosstonian) Irishness that calls to mind the Dropkicks but without as much of an excessive Celtic influence. Pleasingly enough The Briggs don’t let themselves become characterised by one particular sound as the frantic ‘All On Me’ proves, veering impressively towards a more abrasive and almost hardcore slant and it’s here that the HWM sound is most prominent, in the best way possible.
It’s the richness of sound that I enjoyed most about ‘Leaving The Ways’ because there’s a depth and heft to the guitars that comes from intelligent (without necessarily sounding overly polished or shiny) production. The pounding bass pushes every song without being too prominent and is best demonstrated on ‘Song For Us’, which doesn’t break any boundaries but thunders along with a surprisingly surf-inflected solo that shows that The Briggs are at least trying to throw some diversity into the mix every now and then.
So what’s the downside? ‘Top 40′ is a series of anti-pop/MTV clichés that is nothing special whatsoever and melds into the background noise of literally hundreds of punk bands singing about the same topic without managing to bring anything new to the table. Obviously it’s important and relevant but if you’re going to cover an already well-trodden subject it’s worth at least trying to stand out from the pack. But apart from that ‘Leaving The Ways’ is a purely enjoyable slab of punk rock. It’s hardly innovative and won’t make a huge impact on the punk scene but is well worth a listen.
Ben
www.thebriggs.org
www.sideonedummy.com