Brighton-based bruisers The Barstool Preachers aren’t a band you tend to think of subtle. Powered forth by pummelling drumming and breakneck melodies, this quintet are what would generally be considered a prototypical punk band. Yet, scratch the surface of any of their songs and you’ll find lyrics that deal with love, life and loss, but it’s a side of the group that people don’t (or don’t want to) see. Well, now the band’s street-suss, smart songwriting gets brought to the fore on Below The Static. Taking six cuts from their recent album Above The Static, this EP strips them back and reimagines them acoustically, bringing the lyrics to the fore and when the lyricism is this good, that’s exactly where they should be.
Now celebrating their tenth anniversary, it seems that now is the perfect time for an EP such as Below The Static. It acts as a musical full stop that looks back on the recent past while opening up avenues for the future. Formed in 2014 by vocalist Tom McFaull and bassist Karl ‘Bungle’ Jeffery, The Bar Stool Preachers have always been a band in motion, picking up and discarding genres as they travel down life’s road, so this EP really shouldn’t come as a surprise, but to some it will. Despite isn’t original ethos of no rules and anarchy, punk rock soon became shackled by rules and regulations with the studded leather coat becoming a straightjacket. A semi-acoustic album would be seen by some as the least un-punk thing you could do, and that’s precisely why The Bar Stool Preachers should release Below The Static.
Long time fans might be shocked at the direction taken here, but it’s the same bunch of malcontents, only showcasing a vulnerable side that often gets lost in the punk rock maelstrom. What comes shining through on opening track ‘Doorstep’ is the interplay between the male and female vocals and their augmentation by viola. There is some unusual instrumentation on this record, but sometimes the songs are stripped to their bare bones (such as on the emotive ‘Flatlined’) and it is here where the band’s songwriting skills are brought to the fore. However, if that all sounds a bit sombre, the band still find room to let loose, such as on the raucous ‘Don’t Die Today’. Like some strange kind of sea shanty, it’s a celebration of life that out does the original and is sure to go down a storm live.
Below (or Above) The Static it seems that The Bar Stool Preachers can barely put a foot wrong.
- Below The Static is released via Pure Noise Records on 13th September 2024.
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Track List:
1. Doorstep (Reimagined)
2. Call Me on the Way Home (Reimagined)
3. Flatlined (Reimagined)
4. All Turned Blue (Reimagined)
5. Laptop (Reimagined)
6. Don’t Die Today (Reimagined)
