REVIEW: DUCK AND COVER – ROB THEM BLIND (2018)

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I always admired Hanson. Allow me to explain.

Not only is “Mmmbop” an ace song – it is, deal with it – I always admired them for coming home from school and saying to their parents: “mum, dad, we want to be in a band” at the age of 14 or whatever it was they were.

If that had been me and my younger brother when we were kids, I am fairly sure we’d have been met with: “that’s lovely, now go and do your homework.”

This urge to get your mates in a rancid van and travel the country has hit me and my brother a few times since. There was one occasion when we saw Philly kings Marah play a gig and got so excited we were going to form a group and lay waste to the venues of the land (granted, neither of us have any discernible talent….) or the time when we saw Thin Lizzy a few years ago and decided that no other band mattered – to be honest, now I am writing this I am sure he never actually gave me my Thin Lizzy albums back…..

Now, though, I am in my 40s, and have this website, but occasionally something stirs those old feelings…..

Step forward, Duck And Cover.

It’s not that “Rob Them Blind” is ground-breaking (in fact I love this because it is so familiar). Indeed, you can pick out bits of the songs and go “yeah, man, I know this shit!”

Take “Live It Up” for example. The opener distils everything that’s ever been ace – ever – into about three minutes to sound as wonderful as Black Crowes’ “Kickin’ My Heart Around”. But then you can take “Borrowed Time” which not only has the pre-chorus of “you think I’m messed up, well baby its true, but I’d rather be messy, than be just like you” (my new motto, trust me!) but a hook that is pure Cheap Trick.

“Vacancy” is trashy, in a sort of Hanoi Rocks type way, and is an example of their heavier intentions than most bands who purvey this type of stuff. There is a real grit about much of this, but still a real catchy pop feel. “Dead To Rights” has a proper thump, “Stand Corrected” sounds like it could be a Wildhearts song and whilst I was really trying to get through this without the obvious mention of Nicke Andersson’s work, “Wasted” shares The Hellacopters gift for melody and timeless stuff, so I can’t.

“Yeah Don’t You” rockets along like The Replacements, but it is the closing tune, “Touch And Go” that maybe most surprises. Actually, no, “surprises” is the wrong word, because I’d been convinced throughout that Duck And Cover were a frustrated metal band – this just proves it.

It was about this time I thought about texting my brother and telling him to get a van, but that presents a problem. Duck And Cover are in Boston, USA and I am in Birmingham, UK, but whatever that’s merely a minor difficulty. The fact is that “Rob Them Blind” is one of those records. Just a glorious noise that reaffirms why you loved rock n roll in the first place and moreover, why you will continue to love it as long as it exists.

Rating 9/10

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