Who’da thunk that in the year of our lord 2024 we’d be sitting here typing up what we think about a BRAND NEW Stompbox release??? By the time we had started our concert going lives back in ’94 (Yes, kids, we’ve been seeing shows for 30 years come this April!) in the outskirts of Worcester County, getting out to the big shitty (Read: Boston) wasn’t a regular thing until we moved there for school a year or so later but even then those perky age restrictions prevented our just under 18 ass from seeing every band we wanted. Including Stompbox, who disbanded the year we began matriculating at a local school of higher education based on Mass Ave and within walking distance of all the clubs on Landsdowne St. Boo fuckin’ hoo, right?
But that all changed in 2021 when a pair of benefit shows for Julie Duffy were announced with a reunited Stompbox on the bill along with Sam Black Church, Tree and more over two nights. Despite not having been in a Boston Rawk club since before the pandemic we were determined to see them finally so with that, we masked up and ventured to Paradise Rock Club for a magical night of (supposedly) one off music from one of our most favorite Boston acts. And then we got news the other week that story might not be over yet.
In the press release for Final Summer featuring 5 new Stombox BANGERZ there’s comparison to bands like Turnstile and Torche (Both of whom we LOVE) but make no mistake, there’d be no Turnstile or Torche if there wasn’t a Stompbox first (Even if they might not know it themselves). And this newest offering just proves why that’s the case.
“Double Icon” is just pure Rawk with solid riffage from Jeff Turlik and some maniacal vocal lines out of Erich Thaler hearkening back to the band’s early years for an opening salvo that’s driving, unfiltered blasts of Stompbox. As is “Driverless Car” which would just as seamlessly fit into the sonic framework of Stress as it would stand on its’ own as a shiny new Stompbox jam with big beats from drummer Zeph Courtney and some similarly booming big bass from Patrick Gleespen.
“Downtown Bikini Riders” is built from wall of sound-style shreds from Turlik, the rhythm section dynamic duo of Gleespen and Courtney bringing some bombastic bounce and Thaler slipping in and out of anthemic choruses and gnarly cadences effortlessly while the title track definitely has that previously mentioned Torche quality to it at times (Especially those shimmering guitar lines from Turlik deeper in) but is really just next level Stompbox and the perfect reintroduction for fans missing the quartet (As it was the first track to stream in advance of the release). And the hits keep coming with pique 21st Century Stompbox coming your way on “You Got It” with huge riffs, huge grooves, and just huge all of it collected into a hefty closing anthem that’s sure to leave fans wanting more.
Final Summer arrives on March 26th along with a streaming version of the out of print Travis release featuring over 40 minutes of unreleased demos. You can pre-order yours now by heading here and for all the latest on the reunited Stompbox, follow the trail of socials across the information superhighway by clicking here or here.
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