ALBUM OF THE WEEK: THE PEAWEES ‘One Ride’
AFTER a break of six years, Italian garage rockers THE PEAWEES have finally followed up their ‘Moving Target’ album with new long player, ‘One Ride’ out now via Wild Honey Records.
And for once, the flattering comparisons with The Clash are fully justified on this eleven-track, soul-inspired collection of songs with a sound also reminiscent of Detroit Cobras, The Saints, along with the merest hint of the glorious sound of STAX.
Out of the maritime city of La Spezia, the band were formed in 1995 when three teenage friends released an album with its heart firmly rooted in punk rock. Since then, the band have toured the world and released six albums.
“We started working on ‘One Ride’ in 2019,” said drummer, Tommy Gonzalez. “We even recorded the title track then. We were riding the wave of ‘Moving Target,’ touring, playing festivals, and had planned to have an album ready for 2022 at the latest. We thought we would record a few songs, go on tour, record a few more, and continue like that until we had a full-length album. Of course, everything got messed up when Covid hit – no possibility to practice together and Hervé Peroncini (frontman/songwriter) was stuck abroad on an island.”
“We were coming off a beautiful and exhausting year of gigs and tours, and in the meantime, I had written some new material,” explains Peroncini. “We all agreed that we should start recording a new record until all that shit broke out just as I was due to return from the island I was supposed to be on for only a short period of time. Although it was a nice place to get stuck, I was still in a tiny apartment with nothing to do, but after managing to get a guitar, I started recording some stuff on my phone and sending the recordings to the guys.
“In the end, I stayed on the island for six months and wrote three-quarters of the album there. Fortunately, the restrictions were not so strict, so after a short time, I had the opportunity to go out, see friends, and hear bizarre stories of various kinds, all things that in some way stimulated me to write.”
And the enforced isolation, stories of outsiders, divorce, job losses, frustration, indecision, and moments of euphoria, all combined to add unexpected avenues of creativity, turning adversity into an advantage.
“We tried to make demos from a distance,” adds Gonzalez. “I remember programming a drum beat on some computer app for ‘She Cries as She Kills’ and sending it to Hervé. It was such a pain in the ass and so unfulfilling to go from hitting the drums to hitting the keyboards, but it was the only way we could keep going. When we finally got the chance to start playing again, we dove back into it as hard as we could.”
“Yeah, when we got back on track, our long-time guitar player Carlo Landini told us he was moving to Berlin,” said Hervé .“So when Dario took his place, we thought it would be essential to play and tour as much as we could to break in the new lineup both musically and on a personal level, and when we realized everything was going smoothly, we finally entered the studio.”
Album number seven was a long time coming, but the wait was worth it.
CONNECT: www.thepeawees.bandcamp.com
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