Sam's Top 10 of 2017 #2

2.Wonderful-The Sluts

LFK's Finest fuckers proving my old saying of great music being like bad sex over and done with in 2 and a half minutes or less and what we got here is the most oddly romantic 2 minutes and 17 seconds of music that I remember very drunkenly yelling at them to play the last time I remember seeing them play live and while I'm sure that may have annoyed them I'd like to let them know if they're reading this post that they've most certainly been incredibly wonderful to me by just simply pumping out this utterly exceptional bit of music that is one of the few instances of any true emotion being felt for me over the course of one emotionally draining and utterly unmotivated year of my life.

The Sluts you fucking rule, The Only One is a fucking excellent record, your live show is fucking mind blowing, and this god damn song is the second best fucking thing that ANYONE has released this year and for that I'm a hella chug the fuck out of a miller light in celebration of this exceptional song.

Wonderful is an all out blast of feedback heavy rock and roll that is quintessential to the tone that this band presents with some steady guitar and drum work that gives it a rapid fire pace and makes you want to move in a way that seems kind of counter intuitive to the lyrics of the tune which are simple as fuck but maybe one of the truest expressions of what one could possibly ask from any given blossoming relationship and this song truly has been just, “wonderful to me,” and it damn near was the single best tune of 2017 like this and number 1 are completely interchangeable in all honesty and this position in no way holds back this song because it may be the most appropriately titled thing you'll ever hear and that's for god damn sure.

I reached out to The Sluts in regards to this track and this is what they had to say:

Q: So what are the inspirations behind Wonderful?

A: I honestly don't remember what was going through my head when I wrote the lyrics for that. It's just been a long time since we wrote that one and I'm an avid drinker. I remember thinking that we needed a good up-tempo rock song. The other songs we wrote for that EP were kind of Sludgy or mid-tempo and laid back. Basically it's a song about having someone that is good to you and cares for you no matter how flawed you may be. Dover hates how positive it is. Again, I don't remember writing it but it could be some sort of subconscious ode to a past lover.

Q: How was 2017 for you as a band in terms of the music you wrote, released, and the performances you gave? What are your plans for 2018?

A: 2017 was arguably our best year as a band. It was the first year where we didn't dick around with touring at all. We finally realized that we are way more content to stay in the area, and play the venues that treat us like family when we come around. (i.e. Replay Lounge, Bottleneck, Granada, Riot Room) Dover's married, I had a long term girlfriend at the time, and going on the road just seemed like a chore to us. Dover's mantra has always been, "I don't ever want this to feel like a job," and I'm inclined to agree with him. So we tracked our new EP, 'Only One' with Joel Nanos at Element Recording and Mastering Studios in KC and only booked gigs that seemed like a real good time. In my opinion, it's our best sounding record. Joel is not fucking around. After the EP came out, the sweethearts at 96.5 The Buzz spun our single and even asked us to play Buzz Beach Ball. That is probably our biggest gig to date and we had a blast that day. I never thought in a million years when this band started that we'd be on stages that big. We truly are some luck basterds. We got to meet the Toadies and the Local H guys too. It was a crazy day I will never forget. As of now Dover and I are taking a few weeks off entirely to recharge our batteries a bit. We don't plan to book any shows until March or April. I'll do a few solo shows just to keep me sane though. We have about 4-5 new songs we need to straighten out a bit, but when they are ready, we will track another EP over the winter. It will hopefully be released in spring of 2018.

-Ryan Wise

The KC Showcase: The Sluts, "Only One" EP

(Album May or may not come with complimentary Miller Light that's kind of up to just how things work out for ya but yeah this one instance I actually took the picture myself so...cool)

Being an independent entity with any real lack of journalistic professionalism has it's perks sometimes because I'm not held to a standard that people who actually get paid to do this I can pretty much introduce any piece however I want and excuse me because there's only one way to really start out this piece....

Lawrence FUCKING Kansas' best punk band is back bitches and this brand new batch of tunes is one feedback heavy dose of even more focused and angry rock and roll that's kind of like bad sex over and done with in under 3 minutes and god damn it that's the way I FUCKING LIKE IT!

Form the opening chords of the exceptional, “Spy Hunter,” you can tell that this album has a slightly more musical sound to it compared to their previous self titled 2015 release which was chocked full of very Grungy feedback heavy punk tunes reminiscent of Bleach-Era Nirvana and have instead given us a record that for the majority of it's run time is admittedly a little less heavy than the previous record with, “Spy Hunter,” at points having vocals that kind of remind me of She Wants Revenge in their somber tones and the constant repetition of the line, “What the fuck is real love anyway,” being the perfect fit to it's more down tuned guitar work which is decidedly less punchy than the record before hand and the track, “Wonderful,” has an almost Brit Pop feel to it which I actually kind of really dig because it helps balance out the almost light semi romantic lyrics, “Could you be so wonderful to me,” which is a simple but damn great line and it's barely there run time is something that I'm admittedly a glutton for.

The tracks from this EP really give me a feel that they're trying to expand their sound a bit and it shows because I saw them at the Homegrown Buzz Showcase this year and all the new tracks minus, “On The Radio,” sound completely different from the previous album and in all honesty I can really dig that especially with tracks like, “Spy Hunter,” and, “Wonderful,” being as great as they are this band has put out yet another spectacular release well worth taking note of and chugging a Miller light or 7 to now if you excuse me I think I'm a go grab a few tall boy's and get my drank on to what I shall proclaim as LAWRENCE FUCKING KANSAS' BEST!

(yet another example of my wonderful photography skills at work people)

Also I should probably note that this release is being done one song at a time up until June when all 5 tracks should be available on their Bandcamp Page but if you're impatient and in desperate need of having your mind blown and face melted you can get a physical copy on CD at one of their shows which will most likely be the best decision you'll ever make people.

4/5

Best: Spy Hunter & Wonderful

Worst: Evil Woman

Song of the Day 6/8/16

Linger-The Sluts

As the band would prefer to be referred to as LAWRENCE FUCKING KANSAS' own The Sluts are for lack of a better term TOTALLY FUCKING AWESOME!!!

For real if you want some good old fashioned grungy fucking feedback heavy punky goodness that Alterntaive music is desperately lacking at this very moment in time this band is most certainly filling that desire for us all and I recently got to see them live and OH was the wait worth it because they've been on my radar ever since I heard the awesomeness that is Greener and it's constantly repeating chorus of, "She Keeps Me going," which I very much enjoy singing along to but as fucking great as that song and their newest self titled release are today's song of choice is yet another grungy bit of face punching beer drinking goodness in Linger.

This song in a way makes me think of a band like Violent Soho in that it's a very steadfast tune that's best qualities are the fact that it likes to bounce between this kind of calm steadiness before punching you square in the face with a wall of guitars and screams that'll leave you repeating it quite a bit. This song is a special breed of angry enough to make you break shit but not have to constantly refer to everyone around you as Bro after listening to it.

So for lack of a better term it's PUNK AS FUCK!