There’s hardly a band around nowadays that sounds absolutely nothing like anyone else. VGS are one of those unique bands that just sound like VGS and no-one else. They’ve seemingly been going on forever, they were certainly part of my staple punk rock diet as a kid and I remember rocking out to ‘Band Geek Mafia’ back in the day. The sad thing about ‘Southern California Street Music’ is that it sounds like a jaded old band borrowing the sound of a band that mastered the genre a decade or so ago. It’s slower, the brass isn’t as anthemic and there’s an all round feeling of the band just going through the motions. It doesn’t sit up and slap you across the chops with the energy of the earlier records.
There are moments where the band sound spot on – ‘Dancing On Your Grave’, for instance’, is fast and furious and has the trademark vocals and brass that fans have come to love over the years. But all too often this record sounds really flat. It’s like the band have explored the sound all they can and instead of forcing themselves to come out with all their fires burning they’ve just put out a record that doesn’t rage inside them as they did a few years ago. Sadly, this ends up making most of the songs sound the same – and there isn’t even the energy to buzz off. Disappointing.