Seattle’s The Drowns are a band that I first heard at Rebellion Festival in Blackpool playing live, so having them release this their first live album which was recorded at the world’s best Punk festival in 2024 has to be something to celebrate.  

I’m normally a bit sceptical of live albums, they can be great, they can be poorly recorded, they can also just be a stop gap between studio recordings to bring in some cash, but this is a band that are, for myself, one of those acts that just excel live, so to bring this album to the masses at this stage in their musical life feels right. After an initial listen through just to gauge the quality, I have to say that bringing in the likes of David Casey (Success, One Step Beyond) to capture the set, Even Douglas Foster (Sonics, Boss Martians) mixing and engineering, and Jack Endino (Nirvana, Mudhoney, Soundgarden) for final mastering, was a masterstroke.

The album itself being a live piece of history recorded at an iconic festival, spans a dozen tracks that cover what this band are all about and what they bring to the Punk Rock world. What stands out with this album, is its not a greatest hits, its not a farewell tour, this is a selection of songs that define what the band are about at that point in time, a set list that’s exactly what you would get regardless of it being recorded or not.  

How do you review an album full of songs that you may have already spoken about or have been spoken about many times by others, my answer, you don’t. What you do is you tell the reader to go listen and take in the songs for what they are, enjoy the fact that this is an album that does make you feel like you were there (maybe you were?). When you have songs like ‘Black Lung’, ‘Wolves On The Throne’, ‘Live Like Yer Dyin’, then the cover that defines them ‘Ballroom Blitz’, and of course to end with the anti-fascist cruncher that’s ‘Them Rats’, then you’re always on a winner.

A live album that has the raw energy and quality of sound that puts you right there in the sweaty room is something that doesn’t always come true with recordings like this, but The Drowns and their team along with Rebellion Festival have nailed this one!

Live At Rebellion Festival is due out Via Pirates Press Records on August 8th, The Drowns will also be returning to Rebellion Festival on the Empress Ballroom stage on August 7th and will be on tour in the UK & Ireland in September.

Follow The Drowns HERE

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