For a band who reckon they just wanted to go for it as much as they could – and there were some other words in there too – Split Dogs haven’t hung about. “Nice N’ Rough” is their third album since forming in the wake of the 2020 lockdowns, and with Jonah Falco of Fucked Up producing, it sounds like they are making up for lost time.
Guitarist Mil Martinez hadn’t played music for getting on for a decade when Covid came around. You wouldn’t know it here. Harry Martinez, meanwhile, is something of a force of nature on vocals, and together they give the impression that holding anything back simply hasn’t occurred to them.
“Be Somebody” might be down in the dumps because it was never enough, but musically it’s power pop of the highest order. Don’t get too comfortable with that description, though. “Born Too Loose” is rip-roaring, raucous and punky, ready to find whatever trouble it can.
I’ve always been a sucker for music that sounds rooted in a place, and “Breaker” has London all over it. Fast, furious and dirty, it offers “I’ll be gone before you’re even asleep”, and it’s probably best not to ask. Suez Boyle’s bass on “Get The Look” sounds absolutely filthy, while glam rock has seldom sounded dirtier beneath its sheen than on “Speed Demon”. This is a biker band if ever there was one.
On “Leave It Alone”, you’d best take Harry seriously. And if all the partying has caught up with them by “Shake Sum Action”, there’s precious little sign of it slowing anything down. The piano on “Rock ’N’ Roll Business” adds a rollicking barroom touch, and the whole thing is gloriously loose. Whatever “Mamma Said”, meanwhile, you imagine the advice was ignored. They seem to have enjoyed doing precisely that.
I suspect “Suffer” is about things that would make me blush, so I’ll concentrate on the solo instead. I recognise a Doors reference when I hear one, mind you. “I Wanna” gives us a punk rock break-up, before “Dirty Denim” gets to the business of having too much to do on an overdraft. That pretty much sums up the working-class punk at the heart of this, and the sneer is absolute class.
As much as anything, though, “Nice N’ Rough” is a riffs record. Mil makes sure of that, and “Power Out” struts its way to the finish. “Run for the hills when you hear the hounds,” Harry offers, and there’s such glee in that last solo that you suspect nobody involved wants to stop.
Because while Split Dogs might only have formed in 2020, these are lifers. People who’ve been playing rock ’n’ roll since they were kids, getting into bars to play when they probably shouldn’t have been there. Drummer Chris Hugall is another who hadn’t touched a kit for a decade, and he sounds like he’s intent on getting all ten years back.
“Nice N’ Rough” is dirty, nasty and very, very good. Everything punk rock should be.
Rating: 9/10
