Hailing from Glasgow, Balado are a five-piece consisting of Jamie Finnegan (vocals), Mark Devlin (lead guitar), Peter Houston (rhythm guitar), Connor McGrane (bass guitar), and Jack Tayor (drums).
Let’s check out their two songs to date:
The Buffalo
The early glam-punk swagger of Miles Kane oozes from frontman Finnegan His vocals wrap themselves around the ‘Lord Don’t Slow Me Down’ stomp with a perfect snarl and infectiousness combo. It’s a welcoming roar but, one fraught with danger, dare you to follow?
Lifting it above the aforementioned Oasis single are the effortless guitars. The angular aggression of Wilko Johnson’s Dr. Feelgood days threatens to boil over at all points. When it does, rather than nihilistically destruct like a lot of punk records, it steers towards the togetherness of Noel and the finesse of Shambolics to conjure a brash but unifying terrain.
The Shakes are leading a riotous charge to the top as they reimagine rock ‘n’ roll for 2022. ‘The Buffalo’ has fired a flare high to stake their claim too. If they could unite for a tour, then breath-taking destruction and lifelong memories would lay in its wake.
Wasting Away
‘Wasting Away is their latest single, released earlier this March.
It fizzes into 4th gear with a lo-fi wall of sound and rumbling drums a la Grant Marsh (The Rifles) and holds you in a rock ‘n’ roll stasis. You know the outcome is one of two things. Destructive eruption or sumptuous solo. They opt for the latter and Devlin doesn’t disappoint.
His resounding riffs draw you in and before he kisses a sun-drenched horizon with the solo. He’s taken the power of Carl Barat’s and polished the hard edges with the enriching but still edgy work of Bill Ryder Jones and David McDonnell.