Miyazaki! – The Forthcoming ‘I’ll See Myself Out’ EP.

Miyazaki! – Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

‘Miyazaki! has a history way too long and complicated for a stupid Punk band. We like to write good songs, play them and then finish up by talking about Star Wars until everyone loses interest. Excellent.’

Photo credit: Jaccob MacKay – Click Here.

We were recently contacted by Melbourne, Victoria, three-piece Miyazaki!, about their forthcoming fifth release, I’ll See Myself Out.

As a unit Miyazaki! started playing together in 2010 and since then, with minute line-up changes, have managed to release two of their four releases well before the band’s actual inception in 2010, with EPs in 1967 and 1993. An impressive feat for such a young (or old?) band.

Despite an apparent lack of taking themselves seriously, the band’s music breathes nothing but honesty, comfort, enjoyment and commitment to their craft. Citing influences such as The Smith Street Band, Tom Waits and Against Me!, parallels to the likes of latter-day Alkaline Trio and Hot Water Music, The Gaslight Anthem, The Menzingers and The Lawrence Arms can also be made.

That’s quite a musically proficient list, and what you’re essentially left with is a Folk infused slab of 90’s-esque Punk with enough rock-ballad-isms and Pop-Punk tendencies to tie it all off.

\\I’ll See Myself Out//

The choppy Punk track, ‘Weekdays’, begins the EP with a playful 90’s intro before a home-truth for the band becomes one for us all – ‘Now I’m only writing on the weekend, because this nine to five is slowly killing me, and I can help but sometimes feel defeated, when this work place competition got me beat’. 

An attack on the laborious and the menial, an attack on those who criticise what makes us happy and the weekdays that seem to nullify and encompass us all. There is one message though, the trials and tribulations of these defeating weekdays keep the walls from closing in and ironically purpose us and keep us afloat.

Much like it’s predecessor, ‘Tectate’ the face of the pre-order for now, follows the formula of a choppy Punk number but with more of and Alternative Rock sensibility to merge with another killer chorus.

‘Yellowglen’ goes further into “rockier” territory reminiscent of The Smith Street Band, and acts well as a bridging track but isn’t quite as standout as the previous two.

The opening vocal intro of ‘Dick Casablancas’, is reminiscent of a early-to-mid Matt Skiba, before becoming firmly set in the Folk-esque Australian-vocal style once more. Musically, nods towards Alkaline Trio still poke though, with the backing vocals in the track’s middle sitting closer to Hot Water Music.

The fact that I personally heard The Lawrence Arms poking through in this song, as well as the other bands cited and compared in this review, really is testament to the band’s sound, which is firmly their own, but in sending my ears to these well established acts shows the relevance and versatility of Miyazaki!.

‘Something About The Seasons’ seems to roll together all of the band’s influences, the dual vocals, as well as the interplay from each voice individually, are strong and fun to listen to. The rhythms are old-school Punk for the better, while the stop-starts and refrains, compliment the honesty (and wit) conveyed in both the lyrics and in the band as a three-man unit.

The EP is due to drop on April the 15th and is currently up for pre-order, so find the band and all the relevant info below:

• For updates, head to Facebook.
• For some tasty merch, which includes a hand-drawn t-shirt, head to BigCartel and the ‘merch’ tab on their bandcamp page.
• For the band’s music, which is either up for cheap or for ‘Free/Name Your Price’ download and the pre-order for this EP, head to bandcamp.

#StayFresh