Sweatshop Boys - Always Polite, Never Happy EP

Tracklist:-

1. No Pity In The City

2. Special Mood

3. Try Hard

4. Slow Dive

When I was sitting down to write this review, something pretty awesome struck me. Firstly, I got an e-mail from Sweatshop Boys telling my about their new 7" EP. They're a punk band from Israel. Their EP was released jointly by Crapoulet Records (France), Twintoe Records (Israel) and SP Records (Japan). The point I'm trying to get to with this is that even though there's so much global negativity in the media, people can come together from different parts of the world and collaborate to make and share great music. That surely has to mean something!

Sweatshop Boys started in 2011 and have released two EPs and full-length. Their individual members are very active in the punk scene, also playing in The Orions, Spit, Mondo Gecko and Friday Night Sissy Fight.

I love melodic, gruff punk but don’t feature it enough here. Sweatshop Boys make a glorious noise on No Pity In The City, with a great old-school sound kinda like Dookie-era Green Day. Obviously there’s more to their sound than that comparison, but it’s the closest reference point I could think of for the pop-punker amongst you. After the upbeat feel of No Pity Of The City, Special Mood takes influence from country music and The Beatles. It’s a great, catchy song with plenty of melodic guitar. They follow in the same vein with Try Hard. There’s plenty of hummable hooks going on throughout. EP closer Slow Dive, with it’s claps in the background is a great slab of garage/pop-laden punk without being too lo-fi. This is a great little EP and reminds me that we need more danceable punk to stop us from becoming too serious.

You can stream, download and buy vinyl copies of Always Polite, Never Happy directly from Sweatshop Boys here:-

You can also grab vinyl copies from the labels below:-

Crapoulet Records - http://crapoulet.fr/shopshop
Twintoe Records - https://twintoe.bandcamp.com/merch
SP Records - http://sprecords.shop-pro.jp

Sweatshop Boys Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/sweatshopboyspunk
Crapoulet Records Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Crapouletrecords
Twintoe Records Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TwintoeRecords
SP Records Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SP-RECORDS