It's 20 years since the 90s came to an end. Twenty years since glorious, fuzz-laced teenage angst dominated the mainstream and looped on our radio waves. The decades since have provided ample time for all of us to admit that in terms of musical output, there hasn't been a decade quite like it before or since. Well, as long as you're a fan of scuzzed-up alt-rock, that is.
Happily, Sick Joy are here to fill the void the 90s left in our lives with new EP Them Days. Teaming slick, radio-friendly rock licks with the sort of pedal board that would no doubt make J Mascis proud, the band champion a sound that sets its sights on QOTSA-style thunder, while being propped up by deft, poppy songwriting nous. It's grunge, but not quite as we know it.
"Playing Dead is basically about the best secret I ever kept," vocalist Mykl tells us of Them Days' opening track. "It’s the closest to our older stuff but also with hints that things are a little different.
"Opening the EP with it made sense. It's a no fucking about kind of thing. Its like good pizza, you know what you’re getting but you’re fine with it."
Next comes the EP's infectious single – and former Louder Tracks Of The Week contender – Shoot Your Lover. "This track started off as this weird Sonic Youth kind of thing," says Mykl. "It's just pissed off but a bit scared at the same time. I wrote most of the lyrics in a van while I was doing some shitty job I didn’t wanna be doing but needed the money.
"Dirty Water is a bit bitter and short changed," he says about track three. "But also desperate and kind of accepting. Its catharsis and its a documentation. When I listen back to it its like hearing a process, like something is trying to be worked out."
"Vibe Sucker started as something totally different and was kind of a major part of why the EP sounds like it does," Mykl concludes on the EP's closing track. "It was definitely written and built on in a way we hadn’t done before. It was all studio based first then into the live room.
"It's a great fucking song. I think it's maybe our version of pop music."
Them Days is out now via SO recordings, and you can listen to it in full below.
