On the face of it Beseech Me, the debut album from Clamm, is the next spiky post punk record shooting for the big time from a booming Bristol scene which has in recent years made stars out of IDLES and cult heroes of Heavy Lungs and Lice to name but a few.
There is something very Joe Talbot about Jack Summers' vocals on opening track 'Liar' and the title track's raggedy energy shares a common musical thread with Danny Nedelko's band, but there's something wrong, something doesn't quite fit. That's because there's a small problem – Clamm hail from about as far from the jewel of the South West as it's possible to get. Melbourne, Australia, to be precise.
And yet it's downright exhilarating that such familiar sounds are coming from so far away – 'Keystone Pols' is a straight riot-starter no matter what time zone you're in, and whether there's snow or sun on Christmas Day 'Repress' is real sore-throat post punk a la mode. The big Bristol names mentioned above, not to mention non-UK acts like Metz, should be swelling with pride.
That said, Clamm are certainly a band in touch with their deeper
roots, made clear by the few tantalising bars of Black Flag thrash that close
'Repress' and hammered home by a liberal application of the lawless disregard
for good taste that has been fermenting in dusty garages filled with amps and
guitars since the late 70s. "I'll never pass your test" screams
Summers on 'Confused'; "I don't wanna fight, 'cos I'm a fucking
coward" he bellows on 'Sucker Punch' – you've heard it all before and unashamedly
want more, and Clamm deliver it dextrously and devastatingly, marrying the gritty
sounds of UK underbelly guitar music with a punkish, theatrical arrogance which
could only come from down under. With the world the way it is, with social and
national borders starker than ever, it is reassuring that Clamm exist.
Words - Joe Ponting
'Beseech Me' is out now on Meat Machine
Clamm official