Roger Miret & The Disasters

Gotta Get Up Now

Written by: PP on 22/09/2011 03:50:38

Though most of his time is spent fronting the legendary New York Hardcore group Agnostic Front, Roger Miret also has a part-time job on the side in the form of Roger Miret & The Disasters, an oi! / street punk band, who have existed since 1999. In that space they've released three albums before "Gotta Get Up Now" earlier this year, their first one in five years, and one where they continue setting a stark contrast between the metallic hardcore of Roger's main band and the bright punk melodies of The Disasters.

For those not in the know, they play straight forward street punk much like The Briggs, Time Again, Cock Sparrer and bands like that, but like to vary their expression with some reggae, some old school oi! oi! oi! gang vocals, and that sort of thing. Pub rock, too, is a frequent sight (think Cock Sparrer here in particular), as is the uber-chilled punk/reggae combo of modern Rancid, but for the vast majority of the time, it's safe to just call The Disasters a street/oi! band at its heart. As such, the music is loaded on melodic wooah-oooh gang chants (think The Misfits here), and simple, yet bright and easy-going punk rock riffage throughout. "The Enemy", for instance, has a ringing guitar tone reminiscent of Strung Out's "Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues", although less technical otherwise of course, and "Gotta Get Up Now" sounds like a Rancid track with its thick, buoyant bass lines and lazily sung smoky vocals.

The vocal duties are shared bout 70/30 between Roger's spat out hardcore yelps and the other vocalist (whose name I can't pinpoint using Google for some reason), who steps in on a couple of songs with a Tim Armstrong-style laid back approach. The latter fits this style better, although I've always been of the opinion that Roger Miret isn't exactly a fantastic singer, because his pissed off "I'm from the streets of New York" expression works much better in hardcore than it does in something as melodic as The Disasters.

Overall, "Gotta Get Up Now" is a nice piece of street punk with lots of catchy and chant along-able tracks that don't take too many risks outside the genre boundaries. In contrast to the hard-hitting seriousness of Agnostic Front, this side of Roger is a much happier affair. Melody, singalongs, oi oi oi! fist pump passages, and all that stuff is well represented here. But not enough to warrant a great grade, this is simply a solid, if unsurprising, street punk release that caters exactly what they're looking for to the street punk scene.

7

Download: The Enemy, We're Gonna Find A Way, Gotta Get Up Now, Red White And Blue
For the fans of: Time Again, Left Alone, The Briggs, Cock Sparrer, Lars Frederiksen & The Bastards
Listen: Myspace

Release date 25.01.2011
People Like You Records

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