ALBUM REVIEW: The Drowns – View From The Bottom (Pirates Press Records)
In a few short years, Seattle WA punk rock ‘n’ rollers The Drowns have become one of my very favourite bands, and this record is where their story began.
Originally released on German label Gunner Records in 2018, this was the then three-piece’s debut album, just a year after they formed.
All had been in other bands: singer/guitarist Aaron ‘Rev’ Peters in Success, bassist/vocalist Andy Wylie in Coyote Bred and drummer Jake Margolis in The Briggs, Madcap and The Shell Corporation.
They clicked immediately, and this debut showed great promise, setting out The Drowns’ blue-collar street-punk sound, as well as providing a handful of songs that remain in their live set to this day.
This re-release by current label Pirates Press has new artwork and an extra track – a version of Satyagraha by Nevada hardcore band 7Seconds. I always welcome new Drowns music, but it adds little to the original 10 songs.
Distinct vocalists
The Drowns are in the fortunate position of having two equally good and distinctly different vocalists. Rev’s gravelly growl contrasts nicely with Wylie’s more soothing tones, and whether they’re trading lines or one taking lead and the other backing, it works a treat.
It opens with Eternal Debate, where they posit that the problems facing those at the bottom of society could be solved, if only the ruling classes were serious about doing so.
Take Me Back extols the redemptive power of music, while Time Slips is about falling out of love.
Where’s Bobby? is one of the catchiest, most upbeat-sounding songs in their whole canon, despite the subject matter – losing a friend to drugs. You can’t help singing along as Rev sings: “Oh, where did he go?/I wish I didn’t know/Bobby’s back on heroin…”
Another of their very best songs follows in the shape of the politician-bashing Faithfully, Faithless, and you van almost taste the scorn as they sing: “If I wanted your opinion, then I’d give it to you/And if I wanted a new religion, I wouldn’t get it from you.”
Title track View From The Bottom tackles living a life without aspiration due to addiction, and trying to make ends meet as a struggling musician informs Overexposure.
Things get more personal on Boston Accent, which is about falling for the right woman, while I.C.U. sees two damaged characters falling for each other.
Upbeat message
The original album’s closer Darkness has a real upbeat feel, despite being about depression, before bonus track Satyagraha ends with a message of hope for a better world.
As debut albums go this wasn’t spectacular, but View From The Bottom did lay the foundations for the punk rock ‘n’ roll powerhouse which the Drowns would become. 8/10.
