The Bluesbunny Music Reviews Archive

The Bluesbunny Music Reviews

Hovercraft Pirates

Mixtape

True Blue Records

2008

Loud and a bit angry. And much the same can be said of their music! There is more than a passing nod to bands such as The Undertones and The Pogues, and even the Ramones and early Green Day in there. The Hovercraft Pirates eschew excessive chord changes in favour of keeping the music loud and hard driving and, with twelve songs in just over 36 minutes, they seem to believe that pausing for breath is for wimps.

Best of the bunch is the opening track, "Rica". This perfectly captures the passion and anger of the early pioneering new wave bands of the 70's while bringing the sound bang up to date. In the hands of U2 this song would undoubtedly be a hit. However whether it would retain the freshness this band imparts to it is debatable. Of the others, "Rock*" and "Always Free" standout. The former is in a similar vein to "Rica" except with a bit of funkier edge to it whereas "Always Free" has a hint of traditional Celtic music too - just think of Kirsty McColl, The Pogues and Runrig getting together at the pub and having a good old sing-song.

Perhaps not music for a quiet relaxing evening in, however there is always a place for bands playing music loud and fast. And the Hovercraft Pirates have been found guilty on both counts.

Review by: Bluesbunny

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