Music

PREMIERE: Listen to the new Brat Kings 45, "Good Drugs / Watermelons"

by Mark Teo

If you’re enamoured with the fertile garage-punk scenes in Toronto and Montreal (and we certainly are) then you’ve likely stumbled across Brat Kings, a cross-provincial trio featuring members from Sonic Avenues and Pow Wows. Although performances are relatively rare—we were fortunate enough to catch the band a few times this spring in Toronto—we, thankfully, have been subsisting on recorded material from the band: Last year, they released the brawny, RNR-tinged Brat Kings on Yeah Right! records, and now, they’ve returned with the Good Drugs / Watermelons 45, released via venerable Toronto-Vancouver imprint Hosehead Records. And we’re stoked to premiere the latter release today.

While both tracks dabble in the hard-charging punk of their eponymous 7-inch, their Hosehead 45 has the band exploring their sunnier tendencies. First up is “Good Drugs,” which smooths out its harder-edged riffage with call-and-response surf vocals.

On the flipside, “Watermelons” channels the rainy-day-on-the-beach vibes of Halifax garage-pop outfit Cold Warps. Effortless catchy with a touch of menace, the track’s essential lyric—”I wanted you so bad”—has been rattling around our heads for days.

Good Drugs / Watermelons is currently available via Hosehead Records—you can buy it on its own or packaged with two LPs by Calgary’s the Mandates and Vancouver’s Nervous Talk. Catch Brat Kings next on Friday, May 15 in Toronto, with Cerebral Ballzy, School Damage, and Hounds.