Aussie punk rockers The Dead Republic initially gave me a bit of a laugh when I read through their press release. Scrawling through I noticed this album was co-produced by a fella called Stuart Stuart. Maybe it’s only me that finds that humorous, my spell checker doesn’t like it very much. They do say simple things please simple minds. Whoever Stuart Stuart is though, along with Brad Wann, they did a good job on this extremely promising CD. The Dead Republic may not be in the top 10 of your favourite band list, but their music did do enough to catch the attention of Sidekick records, warranting a full scale international release.
Mixing a few political issues with social awareness (i.e. track 2, “No Way Politicalâ€) and a whole stack of melody, singer Waz Clark offers a calming and moving vocal performance over the top of well constructed melodic rock guitars. If you like the thought of Hoobastank or a slightly heavier Dashboard Confessional then take 5 minutes with these guys, in particular a strong track called “Stay.â€
As the 5 track E.P goes on, a variation of styles and influence keep you interested and break an annoying tradition that most bands fail to develop on. There is an element of funk, rock, punk and a tarnish of metal within TDR which the band take from the fact their first few shows consisted of cross genre line ups. Sounds like a dodgy promoter to me…However, no matter what the ingredients, if it tastes good, eat on I say, and if like me, you’ve been struggling to find anything interesting to come out of Australia since Crocodile Dundee, Fosters and Summer Bay High’s girl’s school uniform, then The Dead Republic may be for you.
Pete
www.thedeadrepublic.com