I’m not great at communicating with others. Sure, give me the opportunity and I’ll talk anyone’s ear off about anything, but when I say communicating, I’m talking about texts, phone calls, and emails. I don’t care for them. I’m a face to face kind of guy. The digital age has slowly been whittling away at my will to live. I hate the fact that I am “on call” at all times.
I’m at my happiest when I don’t know where my phone is. I don’t have to talk to anyone. Texts and calls may continue but having lost my phone, I’ve given myself a plausible excuse for not getting back to people right away.
I hark back to when I was a kid and the only phone we had was the house phone. If I wasn’t home, I was considered unreachable. I feel myself constantly yearning after that feeling, being unreachable. Being alone. But that isn’t the norm. At this point, in order for it to be socially acceptable for me to be “out of touch”, I’d have to get a horse and go off and live in the mountains. Now I love a good mountain, but I can’t walk to the corner for a chicken parm sandwich anytime I want in the mountains now can I? Bottom line: I’m not the easiest guy to get in touch with unless I make an effort.
This past week I got an email from Ollie McCormack. Scratch that. I noticed an email from Ollie McCormack..…from about 2 months ago. I did an email search and found SEVERAL unopened previous emails from Ollie and they were all links to new tunes.
I had no idea who Ollie was, how he got my email, or why he had started sending me things in the first place. Yet for months been sending me stuff for months. MONTHS! All emails containing links to new artists and upcoming albums. If only I checked my email more often. I wouldn’t have to do so much damn digging to find good tracks. This week good Ole’ Ollie hooked me up with some hot stuff. I got a stream of a yet to be released EP from a group that up until this point, hadn’t made a lot of noise in the states. They sure are now. This week’s AOTW: China Rats.
China Rats are a group of young gentlemen from the UK. They formed in Leeds back in 2011. A year later they dropped their first EP To Be Like I. Soon after they caught the attention of by BBC Radio 1.
Leave it to BBC Radio 1 to get in on some good music early. Them Brits have radio figured out these days. Why is it that a government funded of entertainment overseas, is so much better than anything our privately owned, band of asshole stations, come up with here? Then we have the publicly funded stuff, which is sometimes great but generally tries too hard (KCRW) and turns people off. No one needs that much world dance in the morning. JASON BENTLY I’m talking to you!
Here’s the first single off of Be Like I aptly titled Be Like I
Look at those fresh-faced bastards. Makin fun poppy, punk tunes that I can get behind. Â The members of China Rats are Graeme Thompson (lead vocals/guitar), Luke Smith (lead guitar/vocals), Jedidiah Allcock (bass/vocals) and George Riley (drums).
If Wavves wasn’t trying to be the most indie cat on the planet, he’d write songs like this. At times the To Be Like I EP has the 
same “kick to the face” style instrumentals as the FIDLAR record while the vocals are a bit more Arctic Monkeys-ish. You can really hear that sort of blend on the song Take No Prisoners.
https://play.spotify.com/
China Rats spent the past summer touring festivals throughout Europe appearing at the Leeds Festival, Reading Festival, London Calling, and Benicassim. Since then they have recorded a brand new EP to be released on September 30th titled Don’t Play With Fire. The first single off of that is a blast title N.O.M.O.N.E.Y. I’m gonna post both the EP recording and an acoustic version they did on a radio station in the Netherlands. The first vid also has Please Stay on it. It’s also a great track.
The harmonies are great. The sound is a real throwback to the Brit Pop of the 60’s (The Kinks, Yardbirds). It’s a sound that mainstream music really needs to embrace again. I wouldn’t be surprised if these guys started showing up on the soundtrack of a Wes Anderson movie. That’s when the hipsters get on board and then they’ll become popular.
The album recording is right in line with Brit Punk, more Anarchy In The UK than Suck It And See for sure. No matter what sound they go for, their talent is undeniable.
As I write this, I’m raising a glass to you Ollie McCormack. Thank you for the suggestions and please keep them coming. Drink to Ollie guys, and then rock out to China Rats. I can’t wait for these guys to start playing stateside. Check them out!
Big Hugs,
Kelly
