Released: 10/11/23
Sometimes you just want a dose of pure garage rock – a 10,000-volt jolt to the system that makes you want to throw yourself around the bedroom playing air guitar while jumping off the furniture. I get that feeling when I listen to the MC5 and The Stooges, and also with the ferociously good Australian five-piece Civic. Formed in 2017, Civic’s indebtedness to those two aforementioned groups is undeniable; but there’s also a modern edge recalling the songcraft of peers such as Protomartyr and, at their heaviest, Metz.
A combination of breakthrough first EP New Vietnam, and a collection of early singles originally released between 2018-19, which are available here for the very first time outside of Australia, this LP is a glorious reminder of the sheer power and joy of garage rock. I concur wholeheartedly with Henry Rollins, who says about them: “I am digging that band … not one bad track in their recorded catalogue.”