Venn are cultivating some of the UK’s most vital punk rock and alternative sounds with Bob Vylan and Split Dogs. You can also add Aerial Salad to that list of must-own records, and they’ve followed up last year’s album with this vital EP containing five stunning tracks. Sure, they’ve not reinvented the wheel here, but they’ve doused it in petrol and rolled it down a hill. From the opening ‘King Of The Grass’ you just know they’ve hit the jackpot here with a stunning, snotty, loud dose of music that jabs you in the chest and doesn’t relent for its duration.

Following on from last years acclaimed ‘R.O.I.’ album, Manchester’s favourite sons Aerial Salad have been playing on the continent a lot lately so felt inspired, ‘King of The Grass’ is about the band’s bassist Mike Wimbo who works for Rochdale council on the greens team, which means he spends his life in the pouring rain chopping down overgrown hedges and mowing lawns and what a fitting tribute it is too kicking off this EP. Vibrant and grows on you like a weed, something I’m sure Mike would have a remedy for. Elsewhere on the EP, ‘Inject Your Blood’ is another romantic love song inspired by the TV series ‘True Blood’ (“I’d inject your blood, into mine just to feel you close”), not at all creepy. ‘Wires’ rages against the world of AI and GPT.

‘My Girl’ is a rapid charge to the finish line full of chaotic energy and a catchy melody guaranteed to set your day up right. Hopefully, this is the shape of what’s to come from the Salad boys, and on this evidence alone, punk rock is in rude health and good hands. Do yourself a favour and invest in this EP and keep Mike off the verges and borders of Rochdale and in the studio and on tour, you know it’s right. Buy IT! 

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Author: Dom Daley