Info: Galway indie-punk quartet The Clockworks released their debut EP At the Greasy Spoon last week, a title that could easily lend itself to a 50's or 60's live album classic such as Sarah Vaughan's At Mister Kelly's or Sam Cooke's At The Harlem Square Club. Unsurprisingly, the band don't veer into jazz or soul here, at least not musically.
Relatable is a common word that crops up in reviews of The Clockwork's music and from start to finish here it is easy to see why. Observational lyrics can be drawn out, but why waste the time when you can say it with greater punctuality. 'Bills and Pills' pounds its way through a menu of self-medication, its characters are everyday, they are you and me, to a degree. You work so you can afford to block out work and whatever undesirable aspects of life impinge on your happiness, the spiral of course inevitably gets out of control with well-being never achieved; "He'd sell water to a drowning man", it could be directed at your local slime-ball dealer, or perhaps, your own hard-wired weakness, you are ultimately your own dealer after all.
Few can deliver the banality of everyday life in such a lively upbeat musical manner than these boys, previous single 'Rumours in the Stockroom' extends that aforementioned cyclical merry-go-round of avoidance. Without being overly dramatic, most employment and labour is a form of modern-day slavery, employers apply 'credits' to your bank account to hide this reality. 'Rumours in the Stockroom' neatly summarises the driving and incessant anxiety of financial strain at the lower (and middle) end of the market, but rather than placing blame on others, the protagonist acknowledges his own wastefulness.
I'm reminded of a Charles Bukowski quote after 10 years working in a soul-destroying job as a post office clerk; "How in the hell could a man enjoy being awakened at 8:30 a.m. by an alarm clock, leap out of bed, dress, force-feed, shit, piss, brush teeth and hair, and fight traffic to get to a place where essentially you made lots of money for somebody else and were asked to be grateful for the opportunity to do so?"
Title, content, delivery. 'The World Owes Me a Favour' is a scathing and despondent critique of modern-day apathy. We're all guilty of displaying great passion about injustice in short and ultimately hollow bursts, followed by no action - succinctly captured in the phrase "anti-social media" on this track. Grandiose ego-driven orations from the couch or bar-stool, we imagine ourselves as a 21st century Gandhi, when ultimately we are full of shit and empty rhetoric. I kind of marvel once again at how The Clockworks can make such grim lyrical reading amid a foreground of lively pop-punk music. You'll either hit the dancefloor or slip into an inner darkness depending on how you are tuned-in at any given moment!
Final track 'Late.' shows a slightly new perspective to where the band could be headed in the future, yes it's still sharp and spritely, but the intensity is scaled back a bit and the delivery is more mood-driven and a personal highlight amongst the four tracks on the EP. On the surface At the Greasy Spoon is a rocket-fuelled drive through good-time feels served up with little fuss, but very little peeling back is required to understand what The Clockworks want to say, this is a fine and difficult balancing act to pull off, they have clearly listened to the themes of the bands that influenced their song-writing and opened their eyes to the realities of the world they inhabit with their very own stamp.
Look / Like / Listen & Follow:
Website: http://theclockworksband.com/
Bandcamp: https://theclockworks.bandcamp.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/daclockworks
