Album Review: The Bad Larry’s – Hodads

The Bad Larrys are a five piece proto punk and psych surf outfit outta Philadelphia, PA, the quintet’s sound combines a love of classic surf rock and storytelling with the raw power of pre-punk rock and roll. Leveraging the talented hands and vintage equipment of Drowning Fish Studios and the Grammy award-winning mastering of Pete Lyman’s Infrasonic Sound. The Bad Larrys first full length album, Hodads, is due for a digital release today, the 2nd February 2018, and Hodads will be manifesting itself on vinyl in the near future.

From opening track, the album’s lead single Deep Space Radio, it’s clear this is an unashamedly retro trip back to the days when snarling garage bands populated almost every town and city in the USA. The spirit of the likes of The Shadows Of Knight, The Chocolate Watch Band and Gonn haunts every groove in Hodads, although It’s not all snotty garage, there are demented surftones thrown into the mix that sit alongside moments that are rooted in rock ‘n roll. However for me it’s when the fuzz and fury erupts that The Bad Larry’s are at their best, the likes of the charged garage rocker Fired In The Morning and the grinding psyche of Rama, Mammon, Abraxas And Ahriman are when The Bad Larry’s truly shine.

If you’re a fan of the original garage bands that populated the legendary Pebbles and Rubble compilations, or of established purveyors of demented surf and garage such as The Fuzztones, Messer Chups, The Nomads or The 99 Degree then The Bad Larry’s will be a welcome addition to your playlist. Hodads is a throwback to an era of primitive garage bands, and there’s nothing wrong with that when it captures the original sound and attitude of an era, and believe me The Bad Larry’s have certainly done that on their debut full length.

Hodads can be downloaded via The Bad Larry’s Bandcamp here

The Bad Larry’s Facebook page can be found here