Disgraceland don’t like big corporations. They don’t like rich, white arseholes. They don’t like predictable rock ‘n’ roll. They don’t particularly like each other and, hell, they probably don’t like you. They do, however, like all-guns-blazing punk rock, preferably deafening; and social commentary, preferably delivered with a sledgehammer. Their first EP, the neatly-titled EP#1 was all kinds of fun, recalling The Wildhearts and Motorhead in equal measure and now, having sweated the previous tracks out of their system, the terrible trio of Ollie, Foz and Chris are back with Dose ‘Em Ep – a title pinched from second track, Hillbilly Heroin, which pretty much epitomises the EP’s lysergic feel and good time vibe.
A pretty straight-forward EP opener, Storming An H Cup still manages to be an electrifying blast thanks to the relentless waves of Foz’s rolling percussion. Riffs the band have in plenty and these are deftly deployed, but it’s the unscripted roar of jubilation that closes the track that seals the deal. Nevertheless, as good as Storming… is, it pales when placed next to the surf-infused Hillbilly Heroin, which sounds like Dick Dale being slowly battered into submission by Hot water Music. There’s even a woozy mid-section deserving of a video in the vein of My Lovely Horse, and all crammed into a chassis less than three minutes in length. Borrowing a frantic intro from the Pixies, the rambunctious Harvey (no prizes for guessing the subject matter of this particular paean to the rich and shameless) sees Ollie channelling Jello Biafra on the verse, before a giant, hook-filled chorus arrives to drag the waters empty, even as the lyrics pack a real sting in the tail.
If it weren’t for the odd tempo shifts, Hard Of Thinking would serve as an excellent new national anthem, thanks to the gold-standard levels of fuckwittery in which people seem prepared to dabble these days. A well-written diatribe that doesn’t forget to tie its all-too-relevant message to a chorus so addictive it should carry a health warning, Hard Of Thinking duals with Hillbilly Heroin for standout track of the EP and, if it does crib a touch from I Wanna Be Your Dog, it quickly digresses into full blown reggae just to keep you on your toes. With foot firmly to the floor, Adult Fuckery is a gang-chant-filled, nitrous-powered blast of purest punk before the instrumental Clint brings the whole thing to a suitably cacophonous end. Drawing on everything from Sabbath to Ennio Morricone, it’s a sweet conclusion to a sweet EP, and you can’t help but feel that the whole piece was played by a band sporting the sort of shit-eating grins reserved for those who know they’ve just nailed the track in every conceivable way.
Every so often, you get the sneaking suspicion that computers are sucking the humanity out of music, only for a band like Disgraceland to come along and bash you around the head with nothing more than a valve amp and battered PA (possibly with flecks of vomit still clinging to the speaker grills). Of course, anyone can play three chords at a deafening volume, but Disgraceland are clever enough to pack their EP with taut musical shifts and intelligent lyrics, whilst still making it sound like the sort of young, dumb and full-of-cum rock ‘n’ roll that invariably ends with a television exiting a hotel window somewhere. It’s a difficult trick to pull off convincingly, but it’s what will keep you coming back to the Dose ‘Em Up EP time and again. 8.5/10
