A two-man operation, Bad Friends With Black Cats features Paul Harrison (vocals/guitar) and Marcelo Maltez (drums) – they hail from Toronto, Canada, and play a brand of cathartic, folky, raw and personal punk. With their latest release, I WANT TO MOVE, Bad Friends With Black Cats succeeds in creating the kind of punk you remember fondly; the energizing variety that uplifts while defiantly salting open wounds. Ready to dig in, get bent, and rock out? Let’s hit the highlights.
What we’re really digging….
The album opens with the eponymous track “I WANT TO MOVE.” And it starts innocently enough, honestly enough, until that honesty drops like a hammer with quick, upbeat chords.
The playing here is tight, which occurs throughout the entire EP. The music is bouncy, dirty, playful, self-deprecating, but surprisingly hopeful.
“3 HOURS AND 47 MINUTES” sounds a little more “radio friendly”; something that might have hit the airwaves during the late-’90s, early-2000s. It’s awake, alive, and armed with bursts of electric frustration.
“FUCK THIS , I QUIT” starts with some job-related lamenting over acoustic guitar – and after a stark realization, the full band kicks in. It’s a catchy punk anthem espousing – and spouting – disillusionment. It’s roaring at oneself to realize the future, and slipping protectively into malaise regarding its hammering expectations. Good stuff.
Album closer, “GUTTER,” has a beginning that really leans towards the “folksy”…but that’s only a launchpad for the song’s very next, and more committed proclamation. There are skillful starts and stops, ebbs and swellings of aggression; and when it ends, when it has its final say, it simply turns off.
But is it good??
Sonically clean, dirty with guitars, painfully, comically honest, and blatantly triumphant in its rebelliousness, I WANT TO MOVE is the right kind of punk; the kind that ostensibly doesn’t care while wearing a giant, chain-wrapped heart on its sleeve. Rambunctious, raw, and very much recommended.
—-
BELOW: Listen to Bad Friends With Black Cats and check them out on Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, and TikTok. Please support Bad Friends With Black Cats by visiting them online and playing, downloading, and/or purchasing their music. And, as always, thank you for supporting real music.
(Want to have your music reviewed on The Ark of Music? Click HERE.)
Follow, stream, download & connect with BAD FRIENDS WITH BLACK CATS online:
