Your girlfriend left you, you’ve just been told your going to be kicked out your flat and your boss has given you a week to fuck off out the office. You tried drinking, but just ended up making a fool of yourself. You tried therapy but got depressed. Will nothing stop your pain? There is an answer!
As the high pitched, funky little guitar riffs comes in and the trumpets and horns start slowly bouncing into your ears, you start nodding your head and tapping your feet. Suddenly it stops the drummer does a brief fill and the tempo goes up. You know when life has you down, there is nothing like happy upbeat music to pick you up and ska-punk is one of the most fun and uplifting genres and Weeble are one band that know how to write upbeat, energetic and fun songs! Using fast, funky and interlinking guitar riffs, bouncy, steady and energetic drum and bass and with the over lapping vocals and blasting horns, Weeble’s music picks you up like a crane and throws you into a river of happiness. First track ‘Get Up’ really sums it up pretty well, with the two vocalist’s interlinking and over lapping, they both have strong and defined vocals and both bring different sounds to the song. Using the huge catchy chorus and nice harmonies, this song just gets bigger and bigger and with the horns powering in at all the right places, it not only makes you forget what the hell you were down about but also makes you want to dance around your bedroom and hug everyone you know. Now all you want to do is dance and when second track ‘When Household Names Go Bad’ kicks in, you know you’re in for more fun. This track is a bit dirtier and the guitars power in fast and furiously. The growling vocal spits out the lyrics like a machine gun. With the rest of the band adding a mass of shouting backing vocals, the drums and bass keep it rolling and the horns pull the sound together, giving it more depth. With infectious lyrics and really catchy vocal patterns, ‘When Household Names Go Bad’ maybe short but you want to listen to it over and over. Then, comes the calm, but having heard the first two songs, you are filled with anticipation as to what storm lies ahead. A really simple and catchy guitar riff comes in and as the second guitar riff joins, it shows a funky dub influence to Weeble’s sound. Then the song comes to life, with a huge horn section kicking in and the slightly boss-a-nova style drums and bass. It shows Weeble’s variety with more traditional ska and dub influences. It breaks down briefly and shows some really cool bouncing, walking bass and the slower, softer vocals. This song is much slower than the other two, but builds slowly to the peak of perfection. The horns are really strong and powerful and with the massive shouting, chantey vocals, that wooooahhh and ummmm and Ooo and ahhhh, it is really infectious and should appeal to the more old skool ska lovers. With some great trumpet and horn soloing, this song (which is just called ‘Untitled’) builds atmosphere and the vocal is sung with power and emotion. The guitars starts softly with the reggae and dub feel before kicking in with distortion at the end and the whole thing moves forward before becoming a marching, chanting, hip-shooting barrage of noise at the end. So, to the final track and by now I am wishing there were more, as I don’t want to come down from this high. As the siren sounds, final track ‘Ska-boom’, slowly starts to roll up the mountain of fun again and its a steady and easy ride to enjoy when your being pulling by Weeble’s circus of happiness. The bass and drums come in, once again keeping it all together, before being joined by the really catchy horn riff. The growling vocals shout out and are backed up by a rabble of voices in the background. It slowly builds into a catchy and infectious chorus. With great hook lines and more bounce than a kangaroo on a trampoline, Weeble once again produce an excellent and catchy piece of perfect ska music. This song has a really fun feel, breaking down into a section where the vocals seem almost improvised and the horns are squeezed out. The final chorus gets even bigger with not only more harmonies but also some really funky bass and more shouting. Weeble sound like they love to mess about with the backing vocals but its all timed so well and the music really builds into a castle of ecstasy. This sort of music has had some good following and exposure of late, but Weeble really do mix it up well, with some harder punk moments and funky ska breaks, it mixes everything from more commercial punk to 80’s ska, astro-dub to grunge. Overall it has a feeling of full-on fun and happiness and lets face it no-one can be down on a happy band. Weeble really know how to use dynamics and vocal injections, harmonies and break downs to build their music. They are tight and fun and mix a range of punk, ska, dub, rock and reggae. The variety between the two vocalists, mixed with the way they seem to know just when to kick in with distortion, add the horns or pick up the tempo, making their songs emotional, infectious and exhausting to listen to. Its quite beautiful ska and leaves you with a smile on your face.
Overall (4 / 5)
Review by Gaz
