Barely out of high school, these Melbourne 'bombers are truly airborne. Unlike so many fast-paced, hard-rockin', wild, high-energy Aussies, they've garnered notice in the U.S. despite the 20-hour plane ride: their hot, 2006 digital debut EP
Sirens led to airplay on L.A. staple Indie 103, and then to similar love from
Little Steven's syndicated radio/satellite garage roundup. Listen to "On + On," "Always Complaining," and "It Goes Off" leading off this first LP, and you'll swear an old dog named "kick-ass, big-guitar, super melodic, punky, heavy power pop" has become a puppy -- the kind that jumps all over you despite protestations. Leader Hugh Gurney has a deep-throaty voice you wish more had, and his three mates match him for supercharged pulse, hot-button grooves, and that old, lost art: backbeat. Outside of one iffy, oddball anomaly
Beatles/
Stones-referencing,
Oasis-y song called "Eleanor's Lullaby,"
Skybombers don't sound like anyone (closest:
Idlewild!), but you hear hints of 1966
Who/
the Move, plus a swatch of Aussie history from
Radio Birdman to first LP
Hoodoo Gurus to
You Am I (and the first power chord reminds of
Stiff Little Fingers' "Wasted Life"). Yep, this is a nation -- a continent! -- that's turned out a few hundred such smokin', roarin' outfits since
the Saints showed the way circa 1975, and
Skybombers are just the latest largess of such a lush gusher. But damned if they don't stand up to long lineage; e.g., you'll see why
X (the U.S. one, not the old Aussie one) hired them as tour openers. Don't miss. ~ Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover