14 years is a long time.
I am not going to lie here and say the thought kept me awake at night – there’s all kinds of things that do that – but it is still a shock to find out that it is 14 years since Seattle’s The Briefs released their “Steal Yer Heart” record.
Let’s be real about this, shall we? The Briefs were the stuff of record clubs and tape traders and blokes (and its going to be a certain type of bloke, single mostly – I know ‘cos I am one) who seek music out. So this isn’t a reunion to match The Eagles, Guns N Roses or whichever one you want to pick, but “Platinum Rats” still is burdened with the same baggage. Like, is it going to add to the legacy, like have they got the old magic?
The answer, unequivocally, is god yes.
Straight away, actually, with the brilliant closer “What’s The Use” which is – like its always been – essentially the sound of Cheap Trick jamming on some punk and sniffing a shit load of glue, its loud, snotty, catchier than the flu and doesn’t care for trends.
It helps, I suppose that even though The Briefs have been on anything but a brief hiatus, its members have been active. Guitarist Daniel Travanti formed Sharp Objects and co-founded Modern Action Records; guitarist Steve E. Nix and bassist Kicks formed The Cute Lepers; drummer Chris Brief formed Suspect Parts. In the end, it all came back around to the beginning.
And “Kids Laugh At You” winds the clock back not to 2000 but somewhere in the late 70s where everyone is pogoing around, “Out Of Touch” revels in the fact that it is just that. Plus, those who enjoyed the Hanoi Rocks will find much to enjoy here. Frankly, music has no business sounding this full of beans.
“Dumb City” is way more astute than it lets on, having a certain Buzzcocks’ thing about it, while the modern world is finally entered for the glorious “The Thought Police Are On The Bus”. The line that “the thought police are leaning left and there’s assholes on the right” seems to suggest that we’re all in trouble. The nihilism is dialled up still further with “I Hate The World”.
“Underground Dopes” proves in two minutes that it can cause a world of trouble, a genuine whirlwind of a thing, it is everything modern punk should be. “GMO Mosquito” – a veritable epic at four and a half minutes – is bubblegum as you like, but to be honest, if you rhyme “buzz, buzz, buzz” with “get you because” then you’ve a place in my heart.
“She’s The Rat” ushers itself in on the back of some machine gun drumming and hits the nail – or whatever else it wants to smash – on the head, “Nazi Disco” is as simple as can be, but rails against the white supremacists, “Shopping Spree” is 90 seconds of a Ramones homage, while given that the riotous opener “Bad Vibrations” called for anarchy, free sex, free dope and free tv at its end, then its perhaps best not to consider what they’re actually shopping for…..
Whatever, we can agree that 14 years is a long time to broken up before getting back together. Imagine meeting up with an ex after 14 years. It’s gonna go one of two ways isn’t it? You’re either going to have nothing left and the whole thing is moribund and soulless. Or you’re gonna end up ripping each other’s clothes off and doing all kinds of nefarious things and if you regret it later then fair enough.
“Platinum Rats” is definitely the latter. God help whoever has to clean the sheets.
Rating 8/10
