Every once in a while, an album lands on your desk that just grabs you. It may not be an album that you particularly anticipated or expected, but somehow it connects and you find yourserlf playing the damn thing on repeat, regardless of how much else you have to do. Songs For Harambe (Vol 1) is one such record. From the moment the first track announces itself with a twinkle in its eye and overtones of The Wildhearts, you know that this is going to be the soundtrack for the summer, deafening the neighbours during BBQs and annoying your mates every time they drop in for a beer. Drawing from The Pistols and The Ramones, The Wildhearts and McLusky, Songs For Harambe is a tremendously silly album (I’m Sorry Indy is a crushing takedown of The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull), but musically it’s on point, and it stands as the perfect antidote to… the poison you just drank [ahem] sorry, I mean, it’s the perfect antidote to the oh-so-serious times in which we live, offering up fourteen jams in just under forty minutes. Read on and meet… The Melbies.
The album opens with the layered harmonies and flaming riffs of For Harambe (Rest In Piece Sweet Prince), a frantic punk anthem that would have smashed its way through the Evening Session circa 1996, headbutting Steve Lamaq and dragging Jo Whiley off on a whirlwind tour of the band’s native Kent. The unlikely Sausagefest: The Musical! is, indeed, a song about sausages (as the lyrics helpfully remind us), while the band thrash away in a manner reminiscent of early Bloodhound Gang, albeit with better production. The aforementioned I’m Sorry Indy is every bit as silly as it sounds, and it’s one of those tracks where you just want everyone to stop and listen to the lyrics, because it’s really damn funny despite being some fourteen years after the fact (and with at least one of the band not having seen it, apparently). Reboot Me sees the band continue to win hearts and minds with a track that harks back to the Buzzcocks at their most blistering, while Brother is simply a great punk track, with no distracting tomfoolery to get in the way of the sonic assault. Of course, the band have no intention of keeping things serious for long and while Bag For Life is the musical Offspring of, well… The Offspring, the lyrics pay tribute to a more environmentally conscious approach to bagging groceries. The first half comes to a dazed conclusion with There’s A Reason, which sees the band explain via the art of song why there are no drums for the first couple of minutes and, were you to assume the track was written on the fly in the rehearsal room one night, you’d probably be right.
Recover from the insanity of There’s A Reason and the band are on hand to sandbag you with Snakebite, a track as deadly as its liquid namesake, while Beano edges into full-on metal territory, as the band’s rage at the false news spread by the titular publication reaches tipping point. Shot through with ska because… well, of course… Beano sounds like Mike Patton being battered by Rancid. The latter influence remains on the scuzzy Georgia, the band smashing out an earthy punk number complete with the inspired chorus “woahhhhhhhhh Georgia”, which seems destined to be sung in the beer-stained back rooms of pubs up and down the country. Everything You Said starts off normally enough, only for a random drum ‘n’ bass rhythm to hurtle through the mix, while Rosie And Jim is a heavy highlight, with its scything riff and Undertones-esque vocal. With the album hurtling to its conclusion, King Of My Castle offers up a splenetic riff that, with its heavy fuzz tones, edges into metal territory once more. It leaves The Ballad Of Colin Dent to say farewell to a suitably dazed listener with a track that is not a ballad (although, in fairness, it does mention the eponymous Colin).
Forty minutes of scattershot punk, Songs For Harambe (Vol. 1) is frantic, foolish, ferocious and fun in equal measure. Drawing on a range of influences, listeners may notice elements of ska, punk, metal and hard rock flying past as their wits scatter, but most importantly, the album is an absolute blast. Beg, borrow or steal a copy (strangely, you can’t help but imagine the Melbies would approve of the latter solution), because you need this album in your life whether you know it or not. Check it out via the link below, you can thank me later. 9/10
