Cassette Review: Watergate Sandals "Pick Apart the Jewels and Gems"

[$5 // Edition of 100 // https://watergatesandals.bandcamp.com/album/pick-apart-the-jewels-and-gems]

I'm not sure if there is any band out there that can quite channel the sounds of punk rock and classic rock as well as Watergate Sandals, but if there is I'm pretty certain that I haven't heard them yet.   On one hand, the songs on "Pick Apart the Jewels and Gems" have a feel to them that make me want to ask the Bouncing Souls who is going to throw the toilet off the roof or watch a video by The White Stripes made entirely out of Legos.   And yes, I realize that The White Stripes might not be a punk band by any means, but that one song from that video is rather fast paced.   It's got the 1-2-3-4!'s and even whoah-oh-oh's.    If you're not hearing a little bit of Blondie's "One Way Or Another" then you're not listening hard enough.

On the other hand, we have the sounds of anything from "Saturday Night Special" (Lynyrd Skynyrd), Bob Seger, Creedence and that "Put Me In Coach" song.   Yes, it is a decent amount of classic rock but it does all fall under that category that still has a lot of energy, like Don Henley and the boys of summer.    It's not in that hippy way that you might tend to think of classic rock or even in the psychedelic ways of Led Zeppelin.   It also isn't a lot of rock n roll like Rolling Stones, but rather it's just that in your face attitude that'd make The Who proud.

When you combine these two ideas- which are sometimes seperate and sometimes mixed- you get a dreamy bit of psych rock that can come out distorted but also just tow that line between surf/garage just as well.    I like to think that it is a sound that Watergate Sandals have crafted on their own as well simply because there is no good comparison for this other than by making them with combinations.

So if you've ever felt like your Bouncing Souls needed more of a classic feel (Though those songs are getting older now) or you'd like to hear a good version of a newer classic rock type of band that just packs a punch, I'm beginning to think that Watergate Sandal is what you should be listening to right now.    With the way bands like Watergate Sandals here can create new and exciting sounds of rock music, I feel like most of all just singing a little bit of Neil Young because hey hey, my my, rock n roll will never die.