Bozos are a booze-fuelled rocket of behemoth rock n roll; an unstoppable juggernaut of brain-shaking sonic bliss. It doesn’t matter if you want to bang your head, bounce in the mosh pit, punch a fist or boogie on down, Bozos have got you covered every second of six track E.P. Frozen Death (the band’s third E.P., not debut as this post initially said in the title – sorry!).
Title track ‘Frozen Death’ opens with a Gotham City vibe before breaking into a sound dirtier than Jimmy Carr’s sense of humour and sexier than his mum the night she conceived him.
‘Better Than Bliss’ is prime example of everything beautiful about Bozos: thoroughly living up to its name, it’s a stomping, pounding song that drives itself forward with carefree abandon; while at some point every aspect—be it vocals, guitar, drums, bass—rises to the surface to shine like an audio diamond.
‘VHS’ reeks of compressed sweaty bodies bouncing up and down on sticky floors; it ‘rumbles’ into life with the spirit of Link Wray, from there swaggers with a sharp-eyed city-street-punk attitude.
At points ‘Don’t Know What To Do’ takes a trip back in time to sound distinctly like early Clash. It’s a beautiful thing, as though not simply a moment in sound, but also the feel—essence—of that time has been captured and had new life breathed into it so the spirit lives on.
But Bozos are not the Clash nor are they trying to be, and so it remains just another of the glorious gems to be found across Frozen Death, such as wonder at how the often found thrashy Anthrax-Metallica-esque solos fit so seamlessly into a sound that at its core is more in line with the down n dirty groove created when Lemmy and Phil Philthy Taylor combined to be the meat and bones of Motörhead.
Track ‘Bozos’ opens reminiscent of The Dead Kennedys before rapidly descending full throttle into S.O.D. territory. Though overall the most in common is found with other Bristol punk bands, in particular Disruptive Influence and Zpangled Henz, the sound of Bozos falling somewhere between the two.
Bozos team photo left to right: Jack Venn; Fabio Scanu; James Wellington
Liverpool is famous for Merseybeat thanks to such a rich vein of beat bands like the Beetles; Manchester went Madchester for it due to the wealth of indie it produced. ‘Seattle Sound’ is a name often given grunge thanks to the genre originating with bands there.
Now it’s looking like Bristol’s time to become a genre city. Only thing, what to call the sound so brilliantly caught in final track ‘Heatwaves from Hell’?
Punk.BS5 is what springs to mind.
Yet so much of it isn’t punk; and it’s in that respect the common denominators are found. When writing this and feeling vibes of Motörhead running through Frozen Death’s veins, I had an again? moment having referenced Lemmy and co numerous times in reviews; but when looking for an image of the band to use what’s being worn but a Motörhead t-shirt.
True, any new up and coming punk or metal band the world over would be mad to ignore that influence given no one since has managed to make rock n roll sound dirtier, grittier or meaner.
But for bands from the same area to seemingly take influence from a core group of artists while simultaneously appearing to ignore other aspects of the overall genre is something striking as a ‘bit’ more unique.
As example there’s plenty moments found across the Bristol bands highly reminiscent of the Big Four of Thrash, while not a shred of anything from the realms of nu-metal has made the grade.
As for that grade: it’s all the best aspects of rock n roll and its punk adherents; both in gritty, raw, loud, boisterous, energetic, uplifting, uniting attitude; and technically too, only the crème de la crème from across the board present as influence.
If there does end up being a ‘Big Insert Number Here’ in relation to Bristol, Bozos will definitely be amongst them.
Bozos:
- Jack Venn – guitar, lead vocals
- Fabio Scanu – drums, lead vocals
- James Wellington – bass, vocals
Frozen Death:
- All songs written and produced by Bozos
- Recorded by Ellie Morgan at Dockside Studios
- Mixed by Fabio Scanu
- Mastered by Julio Mass-Palmer, Rollercoaster Productions
- Artwork by Skwid
- Sharp Rock Records
Links:
* * *
If digging what you’re reading / hearing and would like to help new and independent artists reach a wider audience, please remember sharing is caring and the more you share the more you care xxx
(sharing icons located bottom of page)
* * *
Thanks for reading 🙂
N. P. Ryan
To receive notifications of future posts of poetry—be they happy, sarcastic or sad—music history and reviews, the odd bit of this and that plus the occasional stab at promoting my books, please enter an email address below.
N. P. Ryan 