Puffer: Demo cassette

Description

Ruff and catchy street rock n roll from Montreal. Members of Ultrarat, Mueco, and others. Dis-rockers just rockin’.

Our take: New York label Roach Leg Records brings us the demo tape from this new Montreal band, and while most releases on Roach Leg are noisy hardcore, Puffer is one of the handful of bands on the label who take more influence from classic, song-oriented punk. Its not retro 77 style because the playing is too heavy and the vocals too gruff. Instead, Puffer is stylistically akin to mid-period Poison Idea or early Fucked Up; they sound like a hardcore band who also appreciates a great song and tries to write them without losing the intensity. That combination of toughness and catchiness can also make them sound like an oi! band, though the guitarist has more of a pub rock inflection to their playing. The lead guitarist just douses these five tracks in hooks, the highlight being Live and Die in the City, where the barked vocals in the chorus perfectly accentuate a memorable riff. Since its on Roach Leg, you know it sounds dirty in all the right ways, too.