This is a great track that has elements of Social D’ and other great post-punk rock revivalists. Kwong’s vocals are engaging and the backbeat is driving. The sing-along vocals along the chorus present such a fun anthemic tone.
Here’s an anthem for all the democracies under attack from little boys with daddy issues.
“2019 feels like someone in a mask popping up around the corner every 3 seconds,” says Lucas Kwong, songwriter and frontman for THE BROTHER K MELEE. Kwong is explaining the concept behind the album art for “No Fault,” the first single off their upcoming EP Get Inside, but he could be talking about the music itself: restless, dynamic rock and roll that’s determined to take you by surprise.
The mask, designed by Steve Wintercroft (www.wintercroft.com) and worn by guitarist Adel Bagli on the cover, also serves as a decent metaphor for the identity crisis that birthed the band. Originally titled Brother K, the Brooklyn-based band was founded in 2011, when Kwong was still an English PhD candidate. Dissatisfied with the volume of his solo folk efforts (not loud enough), Kwong decided to meld the garage rock revivalism of his adolescence with his childhood devotion to Fifties rock ‘n’ roll. The project began life as a primal blues/rockabilly two-piece with David Cornejo on drums, before evolving to embrace punk, psychedelia, and a host of unruly influences – Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Nirvana, The Stooges, The White Stripes, Hamburg-era The Beatles, garage-gospel acts like The Caravans – audible on the 2016 compilation SEEK ASSEMBLY.
“We’re drawing from a large pool, but to me, all good rock is just a release valve for modern anxiety,” Kwong muses. “These are anxious times.” Now featuring Bagli and bassist Sam Shaw the band channels their jitters into unmedicated anthems about dead saints, megalomaniacs, and that one dream you can’t shake on Get Inside, out July 18. To paraphrase the chorus of “No Fault,” hope it’s some relief.
