The early 2000s garage rock revival burned fast and bright. Given the insane amount of attention the scene attracted, it wasn’t a wonder that the public quickly tired of bands with “The” in their names and leather jackets on their scrawny frames. A decade later, though, it’s impressive how well so many albums from that era have held up. This stuff still sounds good.
The itchy, slickly produced rock ’n’ roll of revival bands like The Strokes, The Exploding Hearts and The Libertines proves a fruitful muse for Milwaukee’s The Living Statues, a power trio that doesn’t hide the fact they came about these sounds secondhand. Unlike their predecessors, they aren’t pretending to be first-generation offspring of The Stooges or New York Dolls; for them Is This It was their Raw Power. On paper, that makes The Living Statues a copy of a copy, but this sound is no less inspired the third time around. Their new Knockin’ EP is a concise five songs, and all of them rip.
The Living Statues will play an EP release show on Saturday, April 12 at the Exclusive Company on Farwell Avenue at 7 p.m. In the meantime, you can stream Knockin' below, via Bandcamp.
