Four years between drinks is a long time. Some would even say a dangerous amount for an up and coming Aussie band.
From the first listening of Sydney rockers Regular John’s new offering Strange Flowers, one could presume they have spent every waking second perfecting and honing their craft to razor sharp precision.
Since releasing their debut The Peaceful Atom Is A Bomb in 2009, Regular John have been riding a steady wave of recognition as one of Australia’s most exciting new bands. With the aforementioned album being spruiked in Rolling Stone’s top 50 of that year, who also named them ‘best rock act’ – big shoes to fill for album number two.
Opening with “Sky Burial”, which immediately hits you with its Zeppelin-esque drumming and its ‘Perry-Farrell-with-slightly-larger-testicles’ style vocals, it is abundantly clear that Regular John have not only managed to maintain the standard of their earlier works, but surpass it by miles.
Title track ‘Strange Flower’ is reminiscent of early 2000s Smashing Pumpkins (or their modern counterparts Silversun Pickups), with its reverb drenched vocals, tightly arranged drum patterns and muff-soaked guitars.
Lead single ‘Slume’ is an obvious standout that serves as a testament to the brilliant writing and arranging qualities of the group. One can’t help drooling at the thought of taking this in live. ‘Crystal Ball’, the album’s B-side opener is also bound to be a classic for grunge rockers everywhere.
Strange Flowers in its entirety is an epic journey through grunge rock. With so many well-constructed and melodic numbers (and none coming in under 4 minutes), this is an incredibly solid follow up that is bound to broaden Regular John’s ever-growing success.
