News PAWS

: PAWS
Based: Glasgow
Listen: Soundcloud.com/wehavepaws
Similar to: Wavves, No Age

Rock n Roll has long been predicated on the power and spirit of youth. Glasgow’s PAWS are a band who brilliantly encompass that power with their breathlessly exciting blasts of fuzzed up glorious guitar pop.

PAWS are a three-piece combining singer and guitarist Phillip Taylor, bassist Matt Scott and drummer Josh Swinney. The band formed in 2009, moving from the relatively remote musical environments of the Scottish highlands to set up base in Scotland’s largest city. They all have a shared love of the sort of lo-fi intense American indie rock of the late eighties and early nineties; think Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, Melvins. However, Paws are far from mere revivalists, their sound may be indebted to music of the past but their future is very much based on a desire to do something fresh with those influences.

2012 is certainly a breakthrough year for PAWS. The band have signed to esteemed US label FatCat Records and following May’s release of the ‘Mislead Youth EP’ they will release their debut album ‘Cokefloat!’ on October 1st. The first single taken from the album ‘Miss American Bookworm’ is a perfect example of their thrilling mix of noise and melody. It is a whip smart combination of joyous heady teenage exuberance and intense punk rock vigour punctuated by Phillip Taylor’s coruscating howl. The single was produced by UK lo-fi producer du jour Rory Atwell and it seems he is the perfect man to harness PAWS’ spirit of abandon and pure pop sensibility. There is something hugely impressive about how the track effortlessly morphs from sugary sweet hooks to a propulsive Sonic Youth style breakdown. Expect many more thrills on a debut that promises to be one of the years finest rock records.

Debut album ‘Cokefloat!’ is due out 1st October through FatCat Records.

Stream ‘Miss American Bookworm’ below: