The group I’ve come to know and enjoy as Leicester’s foremost Garage Rock band, ‘9 o’clock Nasty’ continually out do themselves with increasingly strange and eccentric pieces of rock music that move from the weird to the wonderful with almost instant interplay. They are innately abrasive, but also strangely endearing in their sound and output. But, most importantly perhaps, they have a style and character that sets themselves so resplendently apart from their contemporaries with effortless ease. On the appropriately titled ‘Politic’, the group take their psychotic rock energy and infuse it with a substance that’s pointed and poignant in equal measure.
That anarchist energy and sound that’s central to the group comes out overflowing on ‘Politic’. There are banging hard rock electric riffs crescendoing onto you on the opening piece ‘King Thing’ before distorted vocals start to beckon over you. “King of Leicester love me truly. Love me much but love me cruelly. That twang on the guitar in ‘King Thing’ starts off as something aggressive and powerful before making room for a vocal harmonisation that feels off brand for what I’ve come to expect from this group, but, at this point, there’s not much that would throw me off. If anything, the EP’s other two pieces start to show you a whole lot more of their haywire style. Get Into Them in its first part kicks off with a self described bhangra dance floor anthem with growling and distorted vocals roaring ‘Fuck them up’ into your headphones.
It’s psychotic, messy, but strangely intriguing. All of what makes 9 o’clock Nasty appealing, packaged once again in a short and sumptuous EP that combines elements of hard rock, bhangra, and even more pleasant pop melodies towards the end. A surprise I don’t want to waste you on.