The Breakdown
It seems to have been a while waiting for this debut LP from Nova Scotian power-punk trio The Boojums. Last seen around here on their breakneck showcase gigs with We are Busy Bodies/Having Fun label mates No Frills and Absolute Losers, they caused a mighty stir with their driving dynamism and hook filled momentum. To anyone watching, the message was clear – here is a band who have the magical ‘it’, a pounding “Rock n’ Roll Heart” (as Lou would say). The Clash’s Mick Jones became an immediate fan.
With such a preamble the recorded realisation can so often be a let down but The Boojums self-titled debut, out now on Having Fun, doesn’t dip- it delivers. Here are twelve raucous, adrenaline rich garage pop songs, crafted with a feel for maintaining the band’s live thrills. The opening salvo sits you up immediately. Outta My Head may start with a muted strum but the ultimate Weezer kick in announces two minutes nineteen seconds of pumping and jumping ballistics. Vocalising guitarist Willie Stratton’s fulsome baritone adds to the dynamism, tinted with classic rock n roll reverb it commands attention, roaring but also fragile in the right moments . The classic “everybody clap your hands” double time break is just perfect here, a shake down complete with Sara Johnston’s thumping bass line limbering up for the final guitar squall.
There’s barely time for breath before the thunderous, thrashing punk of Wings Of Fire follows with drummer Patrick Murphy’s pulsating tom toms working overtime and Ramones-ish “ooh-ee-ooh” backing vocals sweetening the riffola. A “drive all night”/ “take you higher” fist pumping song, Wings Of Fire swaggers with the kind of retro- modernism that Rocket From The Crypt had nailed, until The Boojums came along. Such power punk adrenaline is a staple part of what the band offer on their debut but presented with drive, enthusiasm and shovelfuls of invention. For proof check out the rampant, close to the edge distortion of Meet Me In The Middle or the whip sharp slacker wit of Don’t Wanna Love, where a dead pan phone voice lays it on the line – “Hey it’s me, you forgot to pick me up from work again/ It’s no big deal …get lost”.
Forming around late 2024, The Boojums announced themselves by sharing their songs via YouTube in a series of live takes, self-recorded on blurry VHS tapes. It’s that same DIY aesthetic that they’re clinging onto tightly now they’ve made it to indie label land. No surprise then to find that the album was recorded live, off the floor, by Stratton himself, any imperfections the trade-off for the electric immediacy that bursts from the speakers. As crucial though amongst all this authenticity is the quality and range of the songs that The Boojums have in their locker. Here is a band that can grapple with grungier, nineties rock as well as the garage vibes.
Garden Of The Sons might open with a wiry skeletal funk snippet but soon we’re in classic loud/quiet alt-rock territory. There’s neo-hippy lyrics, riddled with double meaning and delivered by Stratton with a gnarled croon, plus plenty of Queens Of The Stone Age velocity. The quirky Gravy dares to stir its grunge foundation with some funk rock swagger while injecting some gritty messiness to up the charm. Perhaps the darkest plunge though comes with the voluminous Like It. There’s a Mark Lannegan level of tension simmering within Stratton’s raw vocal, some soul-searching desperation framing the stark lyrical imagery. “Hands reach out to me/reaching for the mouth from which I breath /pain is like a ghost/It’s only really there if you believe/in what you see” he sings before the crunching heft of power chords writhe.
Still nothing gets over-stretched or doom drenched in The Boojums songbook. Things can get tough and hard in the small town stories they tell from Port Hawkesbury but there’s honesty and hope in their realism plus a Hold Steady level of emotional thrust in their music. Take the chunky beat, love bop of Stick Together with its sharp, tongue in cheek, rock n roll plain-speak or the anthemic, fist punching Burnin’ Up where a searing melodic guitar hook and Johnston’s nimble eight-string bass propel this surging memory of frustrated attraction. Even more probing reminiscences can be found on the jangling Football, a song that finds the spirit of early-stage Replacements drifting amongst the “Halifax Team”, “their matching jackets” and the “homecoming queen”. The change of voice on Dan’s Transmission with Sara Johnston taking lead vocals brings another perspective into The Boojums’ narrative, more melancholy maybe but still fired by everyday determination. It’s a fine power pop nugget, thinking back to the “back seat of a dirty old Mercedes” when youthful dreams seemed reachable.
By the time the closing track Yellow Lines winds itself up from clipped guitar chops and earthy voiced romanticism into a stomping big rock blow out, you’re likely to be rooting for Stratton and co. The Boojums music may look back in sound and subject matter but there’s an honesty and authenticity here which rises above ready nostalgia or arty pretence. You get the feeling that a lot of people are going to find plenty of themselves in these irrepressible tunes, whatever age, whatever stage, whether they’re thinking about yesterday, last week, last month or decades ago.
Get your copy of ‘The Boojums‘ from your local record store or direct from Having Fun HERE
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