Best Friends - Surf Bitches

The recession is hitting everything nowadays. Extortionate student fees, rising heating costs, an increasingly evil government; things are getting a little gloomy, aren’t they? Next they’ll be trying to tax us for the simple pleasure of a piping hot pasty… ah, wait… David Cameron and co. are missing another golden opportunity for silly taxation in Best Friends ‘Surf Bitches’ 7” – if only they’d introduce some kind of limit on scuzzy surf-tinged punk they’d probably have enough dollar to keep everything afloat.

Whether or not it’s the recession to blame it sounds like Best Friends didn’t bother buying up pricey state of the art studio equipment. Instead, the single sounds like it was recorded using a modified hairdryer from the 80s as a speaker, blasting several layers of dust and gloom out of the way with all the cheerful yelping and cooing. Hell, Best Friends have even got a smiley face in their band logo – this is the level of happiness we’re dealing with. ‘Surf Bitches’ is particularly optimistic, with its punk flavour and twiddly little guitar solos. There’s a incomprehensible lyrical quality too – in fact it’s unclear what the bloody hell singer Lewis Sharman is crooning on about half of the time, but he sounds like he’s having a nice day all the same. ”I don’t wanna grow old / I just wanna stay young forever” he yowls in ‘Grow Old’. Best Friends are like a modern day, grungy, flannel-clad take on Peter Pan. We might only have the funds for a rainy weekend in Cornwall right now, but these guys make us feel like jetting off to California.

Cheerful and rousing ‘Surf Bitches’ might be, but let’s be honest, it’s not exactly tearing up any rulebooks. That’s absolutely fine though. The likes of Surfer Blood, The Drums and Best Coast have previously kept us thoroughly entertained in the past, and now it’s the turn of Best Friends to pick up the wetsuit material gauntlet.