Bangers – Small Pleasures

Bangers are a three-piece hailing from Cornwall – about as close as Britain gets to Californian surf culture – and sound more like a US 90s West Coast punk outfit (think early NOFX) than anything typically associated with the UK. The songs on Small Pleasures are impressively accomplished, all anthemic guitar lines, juddering bass and in-yer-face vocals. From start to finish, though, the record never looks beyond the narrow generic constraints that the band set themselves.

Since bands like Blink 182 neutralised the potency of this sound by reducing it to a flat, commercial formula, it has become harder to find a group like Bangers, who understand the simplicity that made it appealing in the first place. These songs reflect their everyday world, in all its mundanity, and while that may not sound enthralling to everyone, for fans of the genre Small Pleasures offers a rare slice of authenticity. [Sam Wiseman]