1 2 3 4 5

I first saw The Phillies (as they are affectionately known) at the Laneway Festival and they stood out early in the day as a band in sync with each other and harnessing a good slab of enthusiasm in their music and performance.

Cut to the first time I heard them on the radio and the one disappointment I had was the lack of that live energy that first caught my attention. It seemed like they had watered things down on their recordings. Of course then I heard Casino and I realised that there was more to the ear than I had first heard.

Their debut has been carried into the public arena by a plethora of blog and indie ‘net’-work hype, something that can be a death knell for a new band. My first spin through Hope Is For Hopers immediately showed that these gents are up to the praise and publicity. They swing, swerve and barge their way through 12 tracks of upbeat indie, power pop and garage rock that feels like it was timed perfectly for the summer season. The Phillies will be huge on the pending festival circuit.

The garage rock side of the band is similar to The Hives with faux preacher yelps and exultations plus some Jay Reatard-isms on tracks like Ready To Roll and the hoot and holler of single Going To The Casino (Tomorrow Night) – guaranteed to get any crowd bouncing on the front foot.

Props must be given to the bass playing on the album. When Your Boyfriend Comes Back To Town has a rolling strut of a line, totally catchy. The same can be said for Growing Up Alone with its 60s melodic bubbliness, No You Don’t with its distorted and minimal bass riffage and the slow grind of the brilliantly titled The New Neil Young.

Elsewhere Berkfinger and MC Bad Genius display their influences in an almost celebratory manner. I’m Gonna Kill You comes off like the ADD lovechild of The Strokes and Regurgitator, Wet Winter Holiday shows shades of Sleepy Jackson and new indie poster kids Girls.

They avoid falling into basic rock traps by adding some great instrumentation like piano, ukelele and handclaps that add a nice 60‘s power pop vibe to proceedings. They also exhibit a great sense of humour with the Gloria opening chords on I Don’t Want To Party and the carefree and slightly self deprecating lyrics throughout Hope Is For Hopers.

The verdict on this one is that the boys have put together a killer debut album, big, bouncy and shiny with just the right amount of grit and insidious melody to guarantee the album’s appeal won’t wear thin quickly.

Hope Is For Hopers is out now on Boomtown/Shock…