Kev Rowland
I was working through some stuff the other day when I came across this album, which made me smile, but then had me doing some checking as surely, I had reviewed this when it was released back in 2015? A little while later I was sat back feeling rather annoyed with myself, as not only was I in the studio when this was being recorded, took loads of photos of the bands at some of their gigs, but also wrote the press release for it! I first came across 71S when they were in Red Room Studios with TeMatera Smith recording their wonderful 4-track EP ‘Mule”, for which I also wrote the press release, and then they followed it up a year later with this one. Sadly, the band are no more as lead singer Darrin Floyd now lives in Australia, although he did work with TeMatera on a different project before he left, Apostate Son.
The rest of the band were Dave Hitchcock (guitar), Elliot Pike (bass) and Dom Morris (drums), and I actually bumped into Dom at a gig last year, the first time I had seen any of the guys since the album was released. This is alt rock, with more than a hint of grunge, creating a bass heavy sound which is constructed on the rhythm section, with Dom driving it along and Elliot providing a strong melodic platform for Dave. The guitars have been multi-tracked, always heavy but with loads of space within them, and then at the front there is Darrin who was not only a great singer but a wonderful frontman. TeMatera was at the time very active in his own grunge-style band, The Symphony of Screams, and he had lots of guitars in the studio and was always suggesting to Dave to try this one or that, and to change the way he was playing. There were also many laughs during the recording process and TeMatera was keen to keep trying new things, so if you listen hard to “Inside” you will hear an uncredited trombone (from Dom if I remember rightly).
To my ears, revisiting this album after all these years, it is still something of a surprise that 71S did not make a much larger impression with this release as it is a blast and although heavy throughout it is also incredibly melodic and a damn fine listen. I may feel guilty for not reviewing it when I should have, but at the same time it has been an absolute delight going back to it. Still available on Bandcamp this is grungy monster full of hooks.