Cool Ghouls :: Crusty Euphoric Rock 'n' Roll

San Francisco four-piece Cool Ghouls dish out bursts of charmingly crusty rock 'n' roll in a timelessly recorded fashion. Like that batch of funky home-brewed beer your friend made in a cooler last summer, the flavors here aren't developed into any sort of crisp or refined massively appealing product—this shit is raw. But it's all the better for it, because you can hear every success, mistake, and personally delivered nuance in its honest and imperfect original shape: you can almost smell the stale bong water and musty carpetting; see the tangled mess of wires and piles of beer cans; and hear the strained-to-the-point-of-breaking hard-earned rasp of vocals and hot skipping mess of instruments trying desperately to produce something truly meaningful—and maybe even—great. And great it often is. When those horns first hit in "Spring Break Blues," which at first sounds like an Easy Beat-era Dr. Dog number, there's a sudden shift into a The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle-caliber bullet of sweat, steam, and honest-to-goodness rock 'n' roll euphoria. And "Grace," the first single off the band's forthcoming Tim Cohen-recorded debut LP, takes off right where "Spring Break Blues" left: horns, desperation, and bursts of sun-scorched vocals and sun-burnt guitars that will bust your gut, weaken your knees, and tickle your soul.

Pre-order Cool Ghouls debut LP from Empty Cellar.

Cool Ghouls - "Spring Break Blues"