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BattleCat - EP Review: BS Live EP

29 Aug 2016 // A review by Peter-James Dries

To the self-proclaimed "antiestablishment" rebel contingent whose minds jump straight to Green Day or Avril Lavigne when I say Punk; instead of berating you I'm going to suggest you watch the Decline of Western Civilization III. Like Hamilton's Battlecat, the film captures the 90's resurgence of the 70's punk aesthetic.

This punk is a lot different from the media sanctioned version of rebellion we saw in the early 00's. Gritty. Hard. Not so much about talent or timing or being the master of your instrument, as it is about the feelings of being thrashed around in a sea of noise. Catharsis through self-destruction.

And being live the Bullshit Live EP is exactly that; gritty, hard, rough. It's not prettied up because there's no one to impress here. What you hear is what you got on the night it was played. A bunch of bogans just trying to make enough for some piss.

But there is more to punk than seeing how hard you can thrash your instrument. Not being at the show, I have time and clarity of mind to focus on more on the little details you miss when head-banging, or being decimated in the mosh pit, like the words.

I found a lot of the lyrics relatable. I can't do a lot of the shit in Anfem either, but don't care and there's a trend towards skinny jeans in my chosen sub-genre. Being a male of the previous generation, I don't have the figure to pull them off either, like in the song Unpunk.

Maybe that's the point. Times are changing, have changed, and will change. Those that don't change are left behind in the 90's, in the 80's, in the days of punk.

Sure, punk is dead they say, but its spirit lives on through Bogan rock like the Bullshit Live EP and the denim clad adherents you see all over Wellington. Those stuck in their idea of the good old days. People like me, hanging on to ideas of what punk should be, and to me, that is Battlecat.

The stand out track for me was Tech No, the chorus of which reminds me of this song by Sailboats Are White, which I stumbled upon in an ad for this underground film the Doll Underground, (which turned out to be alt.porn in the end... I came for the music and left a chunk of my dignity behind).

If you like punk, listen to this. It's not shit. If you like Avril Lavigne, maybe stick to country music.

You can find the Bullshit Live EP on the Battlecat Soundcloud Page.

 

About BattleCat

BattleCat is a Punk Rock n Roll band from Hamilton formed in 2015.
Its members are from former hardcore/Metal bands and while Battlecat's sound is a lot more "commercially accessible" than the members' previous bands, they still lean on those raw influences regularly when writing songs.
BattleCat released a live EP BS Live in 2016 that gives a snapshot into the sound they are developing.


Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for BattleCat

Releases

BS Live
Year: 2016
Type: EP

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