Hailing from a little town in South Africa, WHAT NOW relocated to London, England with an accumulation of tracks worthy of dispatching internationally. Having put music on hold to maintain day jobs, the punk rock trio seem ready to pick up where they left off, hitting things with full force; unleashing the beast that is their debut EP ‘Take Control’.
The first single from this release is the guitar-crunching ‘Toy Soldiers’, which is a fantastic Hoobastank-inspired number with a colossal chorus that’ll have you belting it for weeks. The integration of vocal tones supplied by Tyron Layley and Ryan Morris throughout really intensifies the chemistry of the band adding several layers to the mature sound that they produce. This is dominant through all tracks, especially ‘Run’. Setting the benchmark for bands of a similar status, it’s a rarity that you hear a solid stockpile of songs evolve from our UK shores. Although they can clearly dispatch a handful of well-written material, there is an untraceable quality that is preventing this South African three-piece from fully blossoming.
It’s not a bad start for the self-produced trio’s first delivery; let’s just hope a new batch of songs is ready on the other side of the new year, developing their fresh sound further.
NICK COREN