Smile, a promising young post-punk band who list IDLES and Slaves among their influences, have released a new single, Culture Vulture.
Joe Francis (lead vocals), Jake Robinson (drums), Erik Miles (guitar) and Rob Mckie (bass) are a four-piece formed late in 2019 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
After a handful of local gigs, and one or two further afield, they had big plans for 2020, but, like everyone else’s, saw them ruined by Covid-19.
They shared their debut release, the single Bobby, at the end of March last year, and followed it with the four-track Smile EP (reviewed here) in June.
Undeterred, they have been working on new songs in between lockdowns, and the first to see the light of day is Culture Vulture, 1:57 of anger and frustrated creativity encapsulated in one incendiary song.
Their delivery owes as much to hardcore as it does to post-punk groups, and it’s a thrilling couple of minutes which will sound fantastic live if we’re ever allowed to have gigs again.
Check out Culture Vulture by searching for SmileBand on the streaming service of your choice.
I believe there’s more new stuff on the way soon, and I hope this exciting young band rides the corona-shitstorm and comes out the other end with a great record or CD to show for it.
