Misgivings - Delete History EP

I've recently started getting Maximum Rock n Roll again. I really appreciate it as a monthly encyclopedia of punk and that's exactly what I need to cheer me up during the quickly advancing winter months. While have more in common with Alkaline Trio and Astpai than the likes of Los Crudos and Stressors, I'm giving Southsea's Misgivings a shot.

Delete History is their debut EP and is due for release in early November. Props to the guys for making the trip to Europe for some shows recently too, though I'm not sure they enjoyed the roads too much!

Tracklist:-

1. Century
2. It's A Bone, You Lucky Dog
3. The Natives
4. Black Book
5. Niagara Falls, Frankie Angel
6. Stay Dull

Misgivings play gruff punk that takes nothing from the US pretenders that made it super clean and super melodic. There’s good old Britishness coursing through Delete History and opener Century features fun riffs and vocal harmonies. They remind me of the many bands that have made it onto the All In Vinyl subscription series (Timeshares, Dividers, etc) and we can never have too many of them.

It’s A Bone, You Lucky Dog points you towards the band’s sense of humour and their gutter-punk leanings, full of stiff upper-lip and fighting spirit. While Misgivings don’t play at a million miles a minutes, they more than make up for it in the infectious make-up of their songs. The Natives gives you the biggest hint towards their Alkaline Trio influence yet and you’re half expecting the silky tones of Dan Adriano to come floating through your speakers. To be fair, Misgiving’s tones aren’t far off!

There’s something seriously grin-inducing about Delete History and it’s even more apparent during Black Books. You might think I’m waxing lyrical a bit too enthusiastically, but having starved myself of decent, honest music for over a week for various and boring reasons, I’m just glad of the time to sink back into it. Niagara Falls, Frankie Angel starts off all gentle and nice, but it’s not too long before the rousing punk rears it’s head again. The song reminds me of drunk sing-along's in small pub back-rooms. It’s always better that way. Spit and Sawdust is all you need!

Even though the EP’s opener had a little more polish applied to it, closer Stay Dull feels very different. Delete History seems to get gradually more DIY and as eluded to in this reviews opening sentence, slick production is no friend of Misgivings. Instead they make use of a production job that ensures that they lose none of their musical skill while keeping their essence and energy at the right level. Six songs in about under twenty-minutes is fine by me, when they’re this good.

You can stream opening track Century via the band's bandcamp page below:-



Keep an eye out on their Facebook page for news about the limited CD release too - https://www.facebook.com/misgivingsmelodicpunk