Sometimes you can go home again. Well, at least in musical terms you sometimes can. That's the message you get when rocking out to the self-titled debut from Verböten. This record, 40+ years in the making, is the first official release from a band formed in Chicago by a bunch of kids: Tracey Bradford, vocals, Jason Narducy, guitars, Chris Kean, bass, and Zach Kantor, drums. Through a series of delightful confluences, the band reunited, added a new drummer (John Carroll), and finally -- finally! -- recorded a record. And it certainly doesn't sound like the work of a bunch of Windy City pre-teens!
Tracks like "Machine" have the thudding insistent of what a bunch of 14-year-olds would write, yeah, but updated with a bit more nuance for 2024 ears, while "Kicking Away" mirrors material Narducy's offered up in his own Split Single, and sounds a bit like peak Superchunk, a band Jason's toured with quite a bit. Even better is the proto-hardcore of "Lost in My Skin", a brief rager that burns its way on on first listen into your skull. Elsewhere, "Full Disruption" revs up and never slows down, while "Radiate" adds a pop edge to the punk-y aspirations of the cut.
Getting together as adults allowed the band members to dig into what fueled their musical goals so many years ago. And rather than attempt to recreate what they would have recorded in 1984, Verböten instead took that spark of inspiration and made a record that sounds like those early bands who crossed over from punk, as well as one which clearly owes a huge debt to bands as disparate as The Descendants, Superchunk, Government Issue, and Grey Matter. The whole thing is a blast, and while the back story of the band is fascinating, sure, it's the tunes which absolutely slay!
Verböten by Verböten is out now. Details below.
[Photo: Jaycee Rockhold]