Punk rock is a bit pent up, or at least the catharsis on the back of it. And there seems to be some of that, one way or another, with Guardian Singles’ new album — Feed Me To The Doves.
For a start, the record sat in a queue for a year or so while the backlog at the vinyl pressing factory cleared.
Then there’s the furious political environment into which it’s emerged, where so many people are talking at shouting volume.
It’s all a bit post-Covid.
"People want to have their voices heard and no-one wants to feel like they are being bullied by anyone, everyone is flexing a little bit, getting up on their hind legs and getting their claws out," frontman for the Auckland four-piece Thom Burton says.
Up north, the signs people have erected in their front paddocks are still insisting former prime minister Jacinda Ardern is the blood-guzzling leader of a satanic cult, he says.
In this moment it is apparently not enough to say you are unhappy.
"It is like you are not going to be heard unless you make up all this other s***. And it feels to me like a child who is letting their imagination go wild and now suddenly they are living in a nightmare."
All that said, the singer-songwriter and guitarist says his own musical contribution to the maelstrom wasn’t written to have a message — well, not all of it, there is a song called Ground Swell.
"It was just my impressions of all this different collage of the world that was coming at me and was getting into my brain, and that was just my response to it."
So, the world and its struggles, sure, but also some personal losses, family and friends, were part of the contributing environment.
On top of that, the aim with the new record — which they are touring to Ōtepoti next week — was to get a bit lusher than previously and even a little bit transcendental.
The band has plenty of form, collectively and individually.
Burton was previously in SoccerPractise and the Wilberforces, fellow guitarist Durham Fenwick is also in Dimmer, while drummer Fiona Campbell was for some time US-based and boasts an extensive CV of associates including Vivian Girls.
Guardian Singles first coalesced pre-Covid, but has been the band members’ primary focus since 2020. This is their second album. The first was garage low-fi — and a Bandcamp sensation — but this time they were at Roundhead with Radio One alumnus Steven Marr on the desk.
"We were trying to get the most out of this bigger lush studio, while retaining the same energy," Burton says.
Marr was key to that and the band was happy to allow him lots of creative input, trusting his aesthetic.
"I just wanted it to sound a little bit more — in some spots — dreamier, rather than aggressive or hectic. I think the first album had a bit of a chaotic energy to it and this one is at times a bit more meditative, I’d say."
Not necessarily meditative in a cross your legs and sit in the corner kind of way though. Right up front in the mix remain the twin guitars of Burton and Fenwick, driving, choppy and angular, switching and weaving around each other, mostly in top gear, evoking any number of classic punk-aligned guitar bands from The Jam, Wire and Gang of Four through to Husker Du and beyond.
"The interesting thing, for me anyway, is that Durham and I both love a lot of Flying Nun stuff, massive fan of The Gordons, Bailter Space, HDU and Shayne Carter’s bands, that sort of sound," Burton says.
"Actually, Durham plays in Dimmer now as well. But me and him listen to a lot of electronic stuff, and more ambient stuff and synth stuff."
It means they can bring a different approach.
"It is punk music and all the rest of it, but you want to have it be informed by some other stuff as well. Not just like you have one record in your record collection that you have ever heard — 2023, or whatever, you want to explore some different ideas."
Those shared waypoints allowed the pair to cut to the chase on meeting.
"We clicked immediately on the aesthetic that we wanted and our influences and stuff. He’s a really, really easy guitarist to have in a band, to jam with."
Burton, who has ticked over into 40s territory, says he’s long been a fan of the vitality and spirit of the seminal punk outfits with which his band is often compared.
It’s music that is fun to play too, not over complicated, he says.
"The nuance of it is in the energy and the tone with which it is played. There are some quite subtle things that make it really special and explosive. That’s something that we wanted to bring to our band when we formed.
"It was like, we want to play punk music but we want something transcendental about it as well."
He pauses, concerned he’s veering into pretention, but decides to push on.
"You have to be doing it for a reason ... to be reaching for something that maybe is a bit beyond you. You don’t have to be in the NZSO to be doing that. You can do that with three chords, that is what that music from that era, that’s what I love about it."
Unleashing their new music live in public spaces is going to be about the joy of it. It’s been a long time, he says.
"I love those songs, they can still go places live, there is still room to take them in some interesting or unexpected directions for people."
It is punk rock though, so that’s still mostly coming in at under three minutes.
The gig
Guardian Singles album release gig, Dive, Friday July 7 with HŌHA and Allophones.
