by: Pat Pilch (@apg_gomets)
If they put their livers to it, National Photo Committee could be thee best bar band in America. But no requests, please. On their latest, the committee is Red Hot, to say the least, “on fire” to say the most. The Chicago project’s jammy cluster of interesting rock music is intensely charming and nonnegotiably on the jukebox all night long. Red Hot Photo Committee contains punk’s out-of-fucks heart with a rock n’ roll soul.
While rough, weathered, and crunchy on the outside, you’ll find no fluff inside NPC’s latest. These songs are potent and packed with nice-as-hell grooves. It’s so easy to dance to Red Hot Photo Committee, an album rooted in all things Americana. Crank the first couple seconds of “Adelaide” and tell me that riff wasn’t written in the US of A. Lyrics aside, “Adelaide” is a driving song, a window’s down, muscle car, ringer tee anthem that hints at a certain eclecticism not every punk can attest to.
National Photo Committee can be a silly band, and Red Hot Photo Committee can be a silly album. But with said silliness comes a sort of dead seriousness. “It’s Hard” gets its most literal point across about the difficulties of modern life, but not without tossing in a cheeky phallic one-liner as well.
But when everything’s ass, might as well shake it. The hard times have never sounded so good on Red Hot Photo Committee, and National Photo Committee rip it live. It’s always been the end of the world; might as well catch the Committee in your area tonight.