Album Review: The Wannabes - "Monster Beach"



The Wannabes are the musical brainchild of Nottingham resident Wayne Zenith and from looking at the guy's Bandcamp page, I think it's fair to say he's a somewhat prolific feller with over 50 releases under various incarnations on there.

Musically, as the title and artwork probably suggest, it's pretty straightforward Ramones style three-chord headbanger territory (including a competent cover of Rockaway Beach) with a touch of the Cramps' gleefully sicko gorehound tendencies as songs with titles such as I Was There At The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Stuff Cindy In The Incinerator suggest. There's a few little tricks in there to ensure this doesn't fall into one trick pony territory though with the keyboards over the top actually adding a bit of a '60s Nuggets style feel to some of the songs especially opener Somehow which even has an extended piano-led break in the middle - brave move but it works. The more moody mid-paced Drag You Down (which actually reminds me a bit of da bruddas' classic Pet Sematary) meanwhile shows that they can vary up the pace when needed as does the frenetic thrash guitar of Beverly Hills Copulator (great song title btw) at the other end of the scale.

Rocket science it very much ain't but if you're looking for 30 minutes of simple no-nonsense knucklehead fun then Monster Beach should do you nicely. Certainly fans of Joey and Lux should find plenty to get their teeth into here.

NITE SONGS RATING: šŸŒ”šŸŒ”šŸŒ”šŸŒ”šŸŒ”šŸŒ”šŸŒ”šŸŒ‘šŸŒ‘šŸŒ‘ (7/10)

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