‘Re-Animator Blues’, the first release from Texan garage punks Cheap Fix, really didn’t mess around. The two track 7” hit their potential audience with two speed driven bangers that valued an authentically raw sound. This immediately set them as an act to watch, assuming they didn’t suffer an immediate creative burnout.
Hitting Bandcamp three months later, ‘Soul Tune’ is every bit as intense. The opening guitar chords are incredibly shrill, and what’s more, they don’t really subside once a snare heavy drum part starts to dominate the arrangement. Within seconds, there are hints of East Bay Ray’s sharp edged guitar tones from the Dead Kennedys’ debut LP meetingwith a Cramps-esque fury. This will be more than enough to get old punks especially excited – and with good reason. In addition, the vocal sounds like a man roaring into a plastic bucket, and this only seems to serves the chaotic arrangement brilliantly; within fifteen seconds, Cheap Fix go from zero to sixty, and even when a more punk ‘n’ roll chorus rears up, the band show no signs of slowing down, or lightening up. Most of the lyrics are inaudible, but that has no bearing on the quality of this fiery recording – if anything, the rawness makes it even better, and with the instrumental breaks powered by a couple of insanely sharp punk ‘n’ roll lead breaks, it’s stylistically perfect, even when from an audiophilic perspective, it’s as rough as fuck. Which, obviously, in this case, is a compliment.
Joining ‘Soul Tune’, you’ll find the surprisingly bluesy ‘Dead Mouth’, on which Cheap Fix take their brilliant lo-fi sound and turn in something that sounds like the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion drawling their way through a slide guitar number, mangled for a psychobilly crowd. The extra space within the arrangement allows a solid drum part to shine, but also allows a drawling vocal plenty of opportunity to sound pleasingly threatening, almost as if David Johansen has provided a key influence in terms of an off-kilter delivery. After proving their natural ability for attacking riffs at full pelt, this supplies a really enjoyable moment of reflection, showing how this band can turn their collective hand to something markedly different, but without losing their edge.
This is another superb release for a band who are unlikely to achieve any kind of mainstream success. In terms of “cult”, Cheap Fix have that branded on them with a capital C, and this two track offering just cements any feelings that they might just be one of the most exciting bands to appear on the garage punk scene in 2025. Although this release does leave the listener wanting more, it’s brevity only serves to make the material sound even more powerful. If you like your garage punk rough and ready, but also with a pinch of bluesy swagger, you definitely need this in your collection. It’s absolutely brilliant.
October 2025