Drakulas - Raw Wave LP (Dirt Nap Records)
Drakulas are the latest band of the prolific Mike Wiebe, who you might remember from such bands as Ghost Knife, High Tension Wires, or most notably Riverboat Gamblers. This time around, "Rookie Sensation" Mike Wiebe teams up Zach Blair (Rise Against, Hagfish) to bring us a throwback, yet still fresh sounding, new take on a punk band.
The interesting thing about Drakulas, is that all of their songs are story driven, rather than the emotional heart-on-sleeve tunes that I love oh-so much. There are songs about people (Sonny Tzu, Stepping on Glass), places (Neon Town, Venus Retreat), and even things (VHS, Beta Max) and all work together to paint a picture of a dystopian future. It reminds me of A Clockwork Orange in a way.
It's a record that after a few spins, it keeps playing over and over again in my head days later. Personally, I find the B-side has more of my favorite songs of the album, songs such as: Neon Town, VHS, and Stepping on Glass. The A-side has some pretty rad tunes as well. My personal favorites from that side are Beta Max and Headphones-Slit Throats.
I haven't seen too many reviews or hype for this record online, and that's a shame. Definitely overlooked. I'm pretty stoked on this record and look forward to hearing more Drakulas. In a Noisey interview, Mike Wiebe did say they were going to be putting out a single, but nothing else has really been announced.
