Albums

Album Review : THE BITES – ‘SQUEEZE

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Posted on 21st September 2023

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Review by Paul Sabin for MPM

The Bites have blasted onto the scene like superstars. That’s perhaps not surprising as they hail from Hollywood.

These guys are out to kick ass and have fun along the way and some four years since they started, have released their first album.

`Knockin’ On The Door’ gets things moving with a fast-paced Motley Crue style distorted guitar rhythm and wailing guitar accents which carry on throughout as Jordan Taylors clear vocal pushes the track along. `Pretty Boys’ starts with a riff that could so easily have come straight off of Van Halen’s first album. This time we’ve moved towards a Poison-esque vibe as there’s more sass and fun jumping out of the song that boogies like a goodun.

`Love Affair’ has rocking riffs dripping from its core courtesy of Dustin Coon and Jono Richer. This retro track oozes desire and lust. `Heather Leather’ smashes in and shows these boys are having a party in true sunset strip style as they transport us back to the mid-80s. `Wild Animal’ on the other hand is a much fiercer beast as the drums pound and guitars crunch hard enough to break bones. This punchy song is a testosterone fuelled monster.

`Bad Bad’ is the classic bad boy rocker that holds few surprises but `Squeeze’ which follows changes tempo and provides the obligatory ballad. Its certainly not soft or slow but it does have blues framework that work so well.

`Good Love’ bears all the hallmarks of a Mark Bolan penned song. Lyrically cool and filled with fuzzy guitars this sounds superb. `Cold Clean Lady’ is your typical rock anthem that gets under your skin. Bombastic, full of hook lines and melodic riffs leap out of every corner here.

We move to firm AC/DC territory with `Do Me A favour’ which has all the balls of `Let There Be Rock’. The album closes with `Dirty City’ which is as near as damnit their version of `Paradise City’ from a content perspective.

The Bites don’t bring anything new to the world, but what they do bring is memories of a great era of sleazy goodtime rock n roll which has a big place in many people’s hearts and that counts for a lot. Here’s to more of that from these guys. See you in 1985!!