Dribbler - Dribbler EP

By Jon Milton

Garage punk with a side order of slacker rock and grunge sir? Don’t mind if I do!
 
I’d never heard of the wonderfully named Dribbler until their equally well titled record company Ugly Twin Records got in touch this weekend, but they could be my new favourite band, for today at least. Dribbler formed in late 2019 in Jersey (the Channel Islands) and have wasted on time in getting their music out, releasing the lead track from this EP ‘Beachside’ in April.   

The band consist of Adam Bouteloup (vocals/guitar), Ryan Bournouf (Bass) and Ben Pearce (Drums) and this self-titled EP is ‘a collection of five songs that candidly cover everything from societal expectations of success, to the ups and downs of small town living. All against a backdrop of emotive, sunny power-chords and riffs that’ll have you reaching for the cans’. It's pretty damn fine too. 

The EP starts at furious pace with its two lead singles, the aforementioned ‘Beachside’ and ‘Champagne on a Beer Budget’ out in April and May of this year respectively. Both are full throttle, thrashy onslaughts, with Beachside in the mode of early Damned / Ramones and Champagne like Nirvana meets Weezer. Sensibly, next track Half Cut kicks in at a more measured pace, continuing the grunge/slacker vibe, and as it comes out of that meltdown in the middle and starts to speed up you may have to stop yourself from head banging.
 
The Morbs brings more energy, feedback and riffs and Doom finishes us off, like a souped up LA Woman played by the Stooges. These last three tracks importantly add a bit of depth to the EP, and it’s always refreshing to hear a Big Muff applied with such affection and accompanied with appropriate levels of feedback. 

The band sound like they’ll be a right handful live, judging by their pre-lockdown performance at one of Creation Records’ Alan McGee’s DJ / Spoken word nights.

Listening to this EP you can certainly imagine yourself in the mosh pit, getting beer spilled all over you with a sweaty armpit in your face, but with a massive grin on your face. Let’s hope those days aren’t too much further away.

Listen/Buy the full EP at https://dribblertheband.bandcamp.com/