Hailing from the buzzing punk-rock metropolis that is Jersey (in the Channel Islands, not the U.S.) by way of London town, TOP BUZZER come straight out of the gate with a hybrid New Wave and Ramones-esque pop-punk sound that’s unrelenting in its pace.
‘Outside Is A World’, the band’s first album, is a rapid voyage through 30 minutes of songs covering such weighty topics as sex, religion ‘sucking’, dancing, and girls not wearing knickers. Lyrically it may be delivered with a certain amount of tongue-in-cheek but musically the band has honed its sound quickly. This is an accomplished recording that relies heavily on some quick-as-you-like guitars and, at times, deeply impressive basslines.
There’s a snot-nosed, self-important tone to the songs on offer here, as you’d expect from a band harking back to the late ’70s, but it doesn’t come across as truly convincing. In fact, it seems somewhat awkwardly delivered. The album itself suffers from a lack of variety: yes the musicianship is good, but by the second half of ‘Outside Is A World’ it’s difficult to differentiate what has come before. But then again, couldn’t the same be said of a band like The Ramones?
Top Buzzer has dug themselves into a bit of a niche market. The audience for this type of music tends to be quite small, but there is an audience for this type of thing, especially when it’d done well. Top Buzzer are on the verge of doing it really well. If you’re still looking for a little more guidance, think the Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster playing the top 40, only less Halloween-y and a little more audible.
ALEX HAMBLETON