Fresno yacht punks cover DEVO

Also, some left-leaning pub-rock goodness from the Blackcoats and a bit of shameless self promotion.

Tommy Bahama Boys have delivered some of Fresno’s most punk songs of the year, first on a debut EP (“Garage Inc. II,” released in January) and now with the single “Head is Sick” b​/​w “Beautiful World” (released Dec. 1 and available on Bandcamp).

Not that you would easily classify the Bahama Boys (or is it TBB for short?) as straight punk, or that such a classification would mean anything anymore. The band describes itself as “yacht punk cretins” or “seapunk/electronic yacht punk influencers,” which sounds a bit pretentious until you hear the songs and it’s like … “oh, yeah, I get that.”

Also, the band’s aesthetic keeps the theme.

The band takes on some strong DEVO vibes with “Head is Sick,” which is funny because they then somehow render their cover of DEVO’s “Beautiful World” almost unrecognizable. But that seems super fitting, given that’s how DEVO seemed to approach its covers (thinkin’ of “Satisfaction,” specifically).

Bottom line: I ain’t hating that another kick ass band has sprung out of the ole’ Friendcore scene.

Blackcoats, self titled

Any album that starts with five-seconds of pure feedback deserves immediate attention in my book.

Follow that up with a minute-thirty-eight-second rant against old white men (“just die,” indeed) and you have everything you need to know about the Blackcoats self-titled release.

Musically, Blackcoats do fairly traditional gruff-vocaled pub rock (though there are some nice pop elements. “Constitutional Crisis” for example) that deviates into Ramones-era American punk (“Moscow Mitch” being the best example).

Feedback and pitch scratches all around.

The album was written and released prior to the election and has a very specific political slant. It comes off as a concept-album take-down of Trumpism (“Traitor Bill Barr” ain’t the worst of it) that is a bit on the nose at times.

It would be more of a problem if the songs weren’t as good as they are.

For some, the Blackcoats is a supergroup, featuring Miss Alans alums Scott Oliver and Ron Woods, plus Sparklejet’s Victor Sotelo and Chris Estep (who plays guitar here, though he’s been know to sit in on drums with Motel Drive and others).

Side note: Miss Alans also released a new album this year, so those dudes have been busy.

Bottom line: It’s a shame we won’t get to see this band perform live while Donald Trump is still in office.

Shameless self promotion …

Or, stuff I’ve been working on during the pandemic.

• The Beaten Zone, “A Million Hundred”

Last year, Todd Williams wrote a Christmas song and asked me put some guitar parts to it. We performed it once and shelved it for the year (it being sort of seasonal and all).

We revisited the song this year, home-recorded it remotely and released it on Bandcamp on Friday under the moniker the Beaten Zone (an off-shoot of our current project, the Downwinders).

In May, Williams released “Chamber Music,” an album of electronic postmodern ambient rock, created exclusively on a Boss DR-880 drum and bass machine, which I highly recommend (“Maxima / Minima,” “Brain Bleed” and “Ammunition” specifically).

• The Strikingly Originals, “These Days”

Tell people your punk band did an REM cover for 2020 and they automatically think “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine).” That would be fine if your band didn’t have a major REM fan playing guitar.

“These Days” is from 1986’s “Lifes Rich Pageant,” and originally released back when the band was being blatantly political (a fact lots of people forget or just never knew).

Our only slightly punked-up version is available on all digital platforms.

If you have anything you think I need to be looking at or listening to, feel free to let me know: jtehee@gmail.com