Written by: John Porter
Band:
Title:
Release Date:
The Bites
The Bites
18th September
Considering their rise since their debut, Squeeze, The Bites could be forgiven for having a little trepidation at repeating the same trick with their second album, especially when being bold enough to self-title it.
Fortunately, The Bites’ second album packs a punch – or yes, sigh, some teeth – from the off.
The first thing you’ll notice is the sheer volume. Make no mistake, this is loud, but in a good way. Unlike some recent albums by ‘rock’ bands, this isn’t dogged by the new loudness-war nonsense that has broken out, making any nuance in sound unhearable. Instead, you can hear every bit of The Bites’ sound in this one, and all for the better. Before you even get into musicality and lyrics, you can feel that this means business, because it’s incredibly well-produced, sounding crisp and clear and big. Just how they should sound, I suppose.
There’s a cool, old-school rock sound about these guys, very L.A sleaze and full of bombast and volume. It’s strongly guitar-led, but the drums have some prominence too – everyone has to shine for this sound to work, and they do. They might chafe at a comparison like this, I don’t know, but they’ve got the good-times-getting-drunk feel of a Mötley Crüe in most of their songs, and their lyricism, which we’ll come back to in a minute. That’s not to call them a complete throwback, because you can hear all sorts of influences throughout this surprisingly punchy eleven-track listen. There are elements of pop-punk and pop-rock here, especially in its more tuneful moments in the first-to-third quarter of the album. It’s that opening salvo that’s the highlight of the album, in this reviewer’s opinion.
… It’s the music of a party band, and I can imagine their live shows being raucous. I had a lot of fun with this album…
Let’s start with the opener, Whenever You’re Ready. I’m a firm believer that the opening track of any album should showcase your band’s sound appropriately and give the best idea of what you’re about. In that sense, mission accomplished here – it’s every inch of their fast-paced, hook-heavy rock, and it gave me a good feeling going into the rest of the album. Ditto for Hold On, where the band seems tight and heavy, punching out every note with attitude. They’re very, very fun, and I know I keep mentioning the volume, but there really is an unapologetic loudness to this, without losing any of the melody.
And honestly? If that’s your thing, it continues through the entire album – it’s well-arranged, tuneful and fun. It’s the music of a party band, and I can imagine their live shows being raucous. I had a lot of fun with this album.
However, there’s enough here to make them a bit of an acquired taste. I can see what they’re going for in image, lyricism and songwriting, but there are times where it just gets a bit too much. Between Lips, Dancing With The Devil, Pretty Pistol and Aftertaste, the lyrics hit every sleaze-rock cliché, with parts even echoing Pour Some Sugar On Me. It all gets a bit samey lyrically, and the music kind of follows on from that, making it sag a bit in the middle. There’s nothing bad here, just nothing terribly exciting either. Still, that could just be my ear. It’s singalong enough to be fun, and I’ll give the band enough credit that I think they’re not just being straight duplicates. I think this is probably part-admiration and part-tongue-in-cheek pastiche. The band seem to have enough self-awareness to carry it off.
Besides, if I carried on being grumpy, I’d not have enjoyed the back end of the album, which is actually really good too. Carry You Home is a really great, diverse track, something different from the rest of the album, and has a lot of pathos and emotional fragility to it. It’s unusual for a band that are this loud and this brazen to carry that off. It was impressive. They keep that momentum through the final part of the album, too, and by Tattoo they’re writing one hell of a closing song. There’s real talent here, and it’s on display for the most part through the album. Let’s see where they go next.
The Bites are:
Jordan Tyler – Vocals
Jono Richer – Guitar
Zack Currier – Bass
Mark Hylander – Drums
Track Listing
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Whenever You’re Ready
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Hold On
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Lips
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Dancing With The Devil
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Pretty Pistol
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Aftertaste
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Shake Your Thing
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Carry You Home
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Playing The Fool
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Waiting
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Tattoo?