It would be fair to say the members of Los Angeles outfit Near Beer have put in the work. It’s coming on a decade since leader/vocalist/guitarist Joey Siara’s old band, The Henry Clay People, broke up. Getting a second chance in a lineup completed, in the main, by Brent Stranathan (drums) and Jeremy Levy (bass) was never part of the plan. (Nor was including on again-off-again second guitarist Dan Long in the press shots we got for this, but we digress.)
Life has a funny way of working out, though, and Siara and co. are back at it – a little bit hardcore, a little bit pop-punk, a little bit slacker rock, but it’s all Near Beer. Their self-titled album kicks back against the mindset of THCP’s 2012 swansong Twenty-Five For the Rest of Our Lives: “It’s been exactly ten years since I put out a record with my old band. And that record was all about trying to make peace with bailing on music and embracing adulthood. [This one] is pretty much a rejection of that.” He goes on to explain: “There are lots of little thoughts on ‘adulthood’ or whatever scattered throughout, but most importantly to us, this record is about making peace with the fact that we simply love music and don’t really know how NOT to be in a band. Being in a loud indie rock band with your buddies and tons of guitars feels right, and in a world that kinda sucks at the moment, we want to do whatever we can to foster a little joy and human connection.”
Trailed by ‘Yelling at a Dog’, ‘Mixtape Generation’ and ‘Dead Drummers’, and teed up by last year’s Sleeping is For Suckers EP, the album is an absolute delight and it’s got riffs; so many of them. It’s out tomorrow via Double Helix (on three different vinyl variants, too!) but you can stream the whole damn thing with us. Yes, it’s a Near Beer premiere. Get familiar below:
