Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the individual tracks that have landed in our inbox over the previous few weeks. This time around, we bring you a superb light indie track, a really intense slab of metal, an 80s star continuing to forge ahead with a solo career, and more besides. As always, the SB continues to mix future classics with the unexpected, and we hope you’ll find something new to enjoy…
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In punk terms, Rob Moss mightn’t be a household name, but he’s been a part of the US alternative scene forever. He’s been a member of Government Issue, Artificial Peace and, in his own words “a bunch of other bands”, and much like Kurt Baker, that Muck dude from Muck & The Mires and Dan Kopko – who features on this 2024 release – his relative lack of fame really doesn’t matter. What he has brought over the years in terms of musical energy and enthusiasm is far more important.
Between the arrival of a new album from Silver Dollar Room and a new single from up and coming band Wird, it’s started to feel as if the last quarter of 2024 is spawning a grungy revival. Here’s something else that fits the bill. Aussie rockers Hello Enemy can be heard channelling Silverchair on bits of their current single ‘Hit Or Miss’.
Mojo Dingo’s debut album provided a short but enjoyable excursion into the blues. The music contained within didn’t necessarily add anything new to the genre, but some great playing and a really heartfelt sound combined with obvious nods to a few classic influences resulted in a record that had an almost ageless heart. Three years on, ‘The Road’ brings essentially more of the same, but among the eight guitar driven tunes, there are a couple of very welcome deviations which show the band’s ability to work a bluesy core isn’t necessary as limited as first impressions might suggest.
In 2023, US rockers Nectarous released ‘Whiskey Hustlin’ Woman’, a great single that flaunted a massive 70s influence. The way it blended the Southern Style of Lynyrd Skynyrd with a dose of 90s style funk rock – particularly notable through an infectious guitar riff – was particularly cool, if never entirely fashionable. In some ways, it set the band in place as a more melodic Black Stone Cherry, and more than suggested there would be more great music ahead.