Why The Bronx's Major Label Debut is a Modern Classic

Features
By ( Louder ) published

With its astute lyrics, white hot fury and punk rock roots, The Bronx's first album for Def Jam never set a foot wrong

Matt Caughthran of The Bronx performs live at The Showbox on April 15, 2013 in Seattle, Washington
(Image credit: Getty Images)

The Bronx - The Bronx II (Witchita)

The best bands are always the ones you listen to and think to yourself “I want to be in that band”. It’s fine, we all do it. If you’ve got eclectic tastes (which most of us have), picking the band you’d most like to be in probably requires some musical flexibility. Case in point, you wouldn’t want to be trapped for a lifetime doing the same thing over and over. If you hadn’t figured it out yet, the band I’d most like to be in are The Bronx.

There’s the reckless rock and roll abandon juxtaposed with musical proficiency, and even the odd technical passage, but all the while delivered with a 100% white-hot punk rock fury. Basically, The Bronx are one of the most perfect bands to ever form and this is the band at their very best.

In an era dominated by electronic influences, auto-tuned vocals and general studio trickery, The Bronx are a band that plug in and play. You can’t get a computer to replicate the level of passion and heart that’s all over this album. The rawness and sheer adrenaline rush of the pulsating History’s Stranglers, Transsexual Blackout revels in 70’s swagger and sass, while White Guilt is Stones-inspired blues rock that is so good you can forgive it for having a chorus that sounds a bit like Auf Wiedersehn Pet (ask your dad).

Singer Matt Caughthran is also capable of something that’s overlooked in lyric writing and that’s uncut, 100% pure cool: ‘26 years on the run ain’t no fun’, ‘The days are long but the nights are longer and after midnight the drinks can only get stronger’, The man drops bad ass lines all over the shop like he’s writing a Quentin Tarantino screenplay.

The Bronx are one of the few bands that I believe have released a bona fide banger with every album they’ve made. It’s nigh on impossible to comprehend that anyone wouldn’t feel like they can take on the world after one listen to this. Listen to this today and prepare to rave…

For more on Matt Caughthran and The Bronx, then click on the link below.

Thinking Out Loud: The Bronx's Matt Caughthran