We at the FSS are big Seinfeld fans. So it’s no surprise that I’m reviewing The Summer of George EP by Polar Bear Club. I first saw these guys when they opened for American Steel in the basement of the Knitting Factory last year and even though I didn’t know any of their songs at the time I knew I was seeing something I liked. The two things that stood out about them were that they had a gaggle of kids screaming their damn lungs out and losing their minds with each new song and that the band themselves were really young. When I say young, I don’t just mean in age either (although they were), but they just exuded this spirit of youth that was chock full of energy and earnestness. You can’t fake that shit. I have a pretty good punk rock bullshit detector. And I’ve seen hundreds of bands try to get past it and fail. But Polar Bear Club was really tapping into something honest and the kids who showed up that night to scream along knew it.
Since then I’ve bought some of their stuff and it just cemented it for me that they’re one of the bands to watch in the next few years. Their album “Sometimes Things Just Disappear” was on a lot of people’s top ten lists last year for a reason. And now the band is ready to release a highly anticipated new album on Bridge Nine titled “Chasing Hamburg”. To whet everyone’s appetite before that though they’ve release a new 7” and it’s definitely in keeping with everything else they’ve done so far. Their band bio compares them to Lifetime and Hot Water Music, which is a pretty heavy comparison on both fronts. I think more than anything what they do is channel the spirit of these bands without sounding like a rip-off. Their positivity, their honesty, their emotional center, and their straight up punk rock energy is something all their own. All of this really shines through in very verse, every chorus, every drum fill, and guitar riff. I really think that they’re going to be one of those bands like Lifetime that new generations of kids will still latch on to 15 years down the road.
All three songs on this 7” showcase everything I’ve said up to this point. And the folks at Bridge Nine really did a bang up job on the colored vinyl. They’ve also made it so that if you order it from their webstore, once you pay a little download button pops up and you can get the digital copy right then and there which is so much better than putting in a coupon code cause you don’t even have to wait for the damn thing to arrive at your doorstep. So check this out, pre-order the new album, and if you’re so inclined go see them when they open for Face To Face on 9/17 at the Gramercy Theater on 23rd Street in NYC.
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