A new band for 2025, Austin’s Cheap Fix deliver two slabs of raw garage punk on their debut 7”. Whilst neither track attempts to break any new ground, genre wise, it’s actually clear within seconds of hitting the play button that these Texan lads mean business, and this first taste of their hard and fast sound suggests they are capable of going head to head with some of the scene’s best noise makers.
‘Re-Animator Blues’ crashes in with a barrage of drums and a hard edged guitar sound, and from there, doesn’t let up. The track’s raw garage sound is rather more lo fi than the genre’s better known acts, but that in itself benefits the performance in hand. Against the loud drums, the lead guitar parts absolutely howl and the rhythm supplies a constant anger that keeps the edges pleasingly sharp. If anything sticks here, though, its an equally furious vocal that fills the bulk of these two minutes with a world of unhinged shouting, half buried in the wall of sound in such a way that it makes Cheap Fix sound like an amped up Len Price 3 channelling The Cramps. By the time everything descends into a wall of feedback, this band has your full attention, or alternatively, their milk curdling combo of volume and fury has frightened you off.
‘French Song’ has a little more melody, relatively speaking, since the lads apply their speed driven, heavily distorted guitar riffs to a punchier drum part, creating something that fuses the angriest garage punk with a psychobilly rhythm. The more strident beats allow a little more space for invention, and in this case, the middle of the number is host to a brilliantly played lead guitar break that taps into the punk equivalent of a very 50s sound. That’s enough to sell a great track, but for those looking for something similar to ‘Re-Animator Blues’, the anger cutting through the rest of the track certainly won’t disappoint – particularly when the lead vocal occasionally borders on the unhinged.
This first collaboration between James Arthur (Manhunt, Necessary Evils), Chad Nicholls (Enduro), Doug Niemczura (December Boys) and Stuart Sikes (Trainwreck) feels like the equivalent of a fist to the jaw. The band doesn’t allow the listener the grace of any settling in time, preferring instead to hit their audience with a hard and fast approach that advertises a superb sound with the minimum of fuss. In terms of lo-fi garage punk, this is immense, and the sharpness in which the psychobilly leanings are occasionally shared suggests that any future recordings could even sound even stronger. This is a short but highly recommended listen for punk fans everywhere.
June 2025