Good Wives – ‘Pride. Respect. Responsibility.’
Good Wives – Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.
Cover photo credit: Crabb Visuals – Click Here.
Ballarat based Good Wives have been in the underground music game for a little while now. A short line of single releases since late 2016 has led them to their debut mini-album or EP depending on where you are sitting, by the name of Pride. Respect. Responsibility.
If you can imagine a band sat somewhere between British Indie Rock, the Swedish Garage Punk of The Hives and soft Australian accents then you can likely both imagine and immerse yourself in Good Wives.
For the first moments of ‘1236789’ you are transported to the 90’s before strong, gritty yet melodic guitar-work carries you into raw Garage Punk. The band filter-in the known Aussie melodic Punk sound in their guitar lines but with the crunching sharpness of Garage Rock acting as the foundation.
Similarly within moments of its stage-time ‘Eyes’ keeps this Garage Punk sound through and through only this time with more characteristically Australian vocals in a classic tale of lust from across the room.
Strong British-esque Indie Rock over fluttering percussion greets you in ‘El Diablo (The Devil)’ as Good Wives move away from their more weighted sound. The beating of the skins at this point of the record is well-worth commendation and this third track although out of place, proves this.
Rather than exploring this sound further, Pride. Respect. Responsibility takes a turn for the ballad in risk move mid-album. I would criticise this further if it wasn’t for the crooning and ear-wormy guitar tone seductively beckoning you.
‘Surely Not’ balances scrappy instrumentation with snotty disinterested vocals in hardest Punk track on the release while another break in continuity with a slower ballad and further crooning guitar-work. Again, the flow of the album very much hits a speed bump but in doing that you are presented with the band’s best. Every cloud.
‘Your Feet Don’t Fit’ was the band’s debut single and quite rightly made its way to a second coming on their debut full(ish)-length. The opening reckless pits at you in some sort of Audioslave/The Hives hybrid before the band fall-back on their snotty Punk. ‘You Feet Don’t Fit’ is very much a middle-finger of youth to criticism and those who adamantly discourage any real individuality… or something like that.
Pride. Respect. Responsibility. is a well produced record that manages, and very well I might add, to capture the raw energy of both a young band and a young band that have taken up the playful and rough round the edges Garage sound.
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