Neu Olive Drab

: Olive Drab
Based: Philadelphia
Listen: Olivedrab.bandcamp.com
Similar to: Porches, Swearin’

Moving to Philadelphia for school in 2011 could well be the best decision Reid Maynard has ever made. Immediately catching the city’s highly contagious thirst for creativity, Maynard demoed a couple of songs on his iPhone before sending them to his classmates Scotty (guitar, vocals) and Ben (drums). Slowly but surely, Olive Drab blossomed, and their debut ‘Girl’ EP - a hazy, lo-fi take on melodic grunge - caught the attention of the city’s underground scene.

Fast-forward three years and with the addition of Ted Nguyent’s Kian on bass, Olive Drab have released their debut full-length ‘The Big Sleep’. Not so much inspired by Raymond Chandler’s hard-as-nails crime novel of the same name as it is long distance relationships and that old omen of girls, Maynard describes writing most of the songs as a result of him “being a crybaby”.

“I met my girlfriend around the same time I was writing a lot of the stuff, and she lives two hours away, so a lot of that comes through on the album,” he says. “I think a lot of the time I was just bored and wanted to hang out.” The result is ten incredibly mopey, self-loathing songs, but don’t let that put you off - rich with melodies and riffs that are dirtier than the bedrooms they were born in, ‘The Big Sleep’ is as much a record to rock out to as it is to hide under your duvet to.

‘King of Cancer’ is the suitably bleak highlight, swaying back and forth in intensity as Maynard’s drawl carries the song into a ferocious breakdown. Olive Drab know how to jam, that’s for sure - but then again, with members past and present spread out across projects such as Glocca Morra, Hightide Hotel and Shelf Life, this comes as no surprise.

With a cassette out now via Birdtapes and a 12” following soon on the same label, this is an exciting time for Olive Drab, especially with a tentative tour planned for the summer too. A bold testament to what a couple of friends and their instruments can do, Olive Drab might be making waves underground right now, but expect them to be soaring to much bigger heights above ground before the year’s out.

The Big Sleep by Olive Drab