Album Review: Nancy Vandal - 'Flogging A Dead Phoenix'

After over a decade of silence, the Sydney kings of pub punk Nancy Vandal, have returned in their rocket ships and stepped into the 21st century. Bringing with them their 90’s brand of nonsensical garage punk, their fresh release, ‘Flogging A Dead Phoenix,’ is a record sent in a time machine from the 90’s straight into 2013.

With tracks like ‘The Kids Stay Out Of The Song’ and ‘A Nurofen From My Euro Friend’ it's clear that there’s not a lot they take seriously, and that there’s also not a lot they can’t make sound really good with a truckload of fast, dynamic punk dumped on top of it.

Songs like ‘Dumb It Down’ and ‘Hot Pants Naiton’ are extremely brief, and packed to the very brim with an in your face absurdity and at times confronting sense of mayhem, reminiscent of Aussie favorites, Frenzal Rhomb. In this way, the boys are concentrating their explosive, energetic shenanigans into tiny compartments.

‘Still Got It,’ and ‘We Don’t Want Your Fun’ are longer, showing off a lot scope of the band in the one track, and throwing in a handful of brass instruments along the way. Songs like ‘Desmond Manchild,’ may be in substance, relatively nonsensical, however the approach that the band takes favours old fashioned, no nonsense pub band rock and roll all the way.

Just in case you thought the band had gotten serious again ‘Nowt Bar A Good Time’ and ‘We Fucked This City On Rock and Roll’ are spin off tracks of well loved rock and roll anthems, Poison’s ‘Nothing But A Good Time’ and Starships’ ‘We Built This City.’ Nancy Vandal are clearly taking the mickey out of these tunes, and while it’s all in jest, they ultimately butcher the classic tracks.

It could be said that Nancy Vandal are regurgitating the kind of fast, garage punk that was overdone in the 90’s and that their time to shine has been and gone. Much can be said to this effect, but the point is, the band don’t really care at all. Fortunately, this kind of indifference to their slightly out-of-place presence in the second decade of the 21st century works very much in their favour. 'Flogging A Dead Phoenix' is an absurd but endearing record, and a nice reminder to everyone not to take life so seriously.

1. Project E5000

2. Flogging a Dead Phoenix

3. A Nurofen from My Eurofriend

4. The Kid Stays Out of the Song

5. Fingering Chart

6. Hot Pants Nation

7. Dumb it Down

8. Still Got it

9. Piano Sketches

10. King Kong Bundy's Ponzi Scheme

11. Desmond Manchild

12. We Don't Want Your Fun

13. Nowt Bar a Good Time

14. We Fucked This City on Rock N Roll