Sheriff : Sheriff

If you’re looking for slick production, atmospheric soundscapes or catchy pop hooks, you best look elsewhere. If you dig fat, bawdy grooves, lots of exuberant hollering and music that’s generally free of spit and polish, then Sherriff are your bag.

This is the Melbourne three-piece’s debut EP, and it’s a raw and beer-soaked as it is fun. This band’s music sounds like it’s the product of many, extremely boozy late nights spent in a filthy garage or rehearsal room, jamming the fuck out of '70s influenced, psychedelia tinged rock and roll riffs and grooves. It’s a raw and rockin’ power three-piece in the true sense of the word, and the recording itself sounds as if it was recorded in the most old-school manner possible these days. That is, set up the band in a recording studio, whack some mics on the amps and drums, and press record, then go straight to tape – none of this pro-tools digital rubbish!

Whether or not they actually did it like that, I’m not sure, but if not, they’ve certainly made an excellent fist of making this sound like it was recorded in 1973.

The tunes are ultra basic, but delivered with spirit and swashbuckling charm. They’re about four decades off re-inventing any kind of wheel, but that’s hardly the point. In this case, it’s all about the raunch, the groove and the beers. Banging.

BY ROD WHITFIELD

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In A Word: Rock