Real Gone’s End of Year Round-Up 2022

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2022 has gone extremely quickly. With most people back at work in their offices and gigs being a regular occurrence, everything has felt far more like those old pre-2020 days. Almost as if to celebrate a shift back towards “normality” (though we’re no means out of the woods with regard to viruses) lots of our favourite bands went into overdrive, and a few of them even produced albums that are up their with their finest work.

Below, you’ll find Real Gone’s ten favourite releases of 2022, along with a few others that really stood out. It really has been a great year for music; some of the stuff we’ve not included was also of a very high standard, and it really felt like there was something new to explore every week.

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THE DOLLYROTS – Christmas Time With You / The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)

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Since the turn of the millennium, The Dollyrots have been an important fixture on the pop punk scene. In an era where so many “punk” bands took a more emo route, vocalist Kelly Ogden and friends constantly served up classic pop punk riffs – 90s style – injected with a little power pop sugariness, which often put the band somewhere between peak blink-182 and the noisier elements of Letters To Cleo. Naturally, their often buoyant and fun approach to everything attracted Jaret Reddick and his band Bowling For Soup. Strong bonds were made in the name of friendship, and over the years, the two bands could often be found sharing a stage or three.

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THE PRIZE – Wrong Side Of Town EP

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Formed during the pandemic restrictions of 2021, The Prize are promoted as a power pop band, but those looking for a world of Jellyfish and McCartney inspired throwbacks should be forewarned that this band really don’t indulge in that kind of perfection or sugariness. There is a power pop heart to their sound, but it’s far more indebted to bands like The Nerves (of ‘Hanging On The Telephone’ fame) and The Real Kids, occasionally fused with the more melodic end of The Buzzcocks’ output. With a pinch of early Flamin’ Groovies and the occasional nod to fellow Aussies The Saints to be discovered along the way, this debut EP stirs up a world of energy, but matches the spiky riffs with massive, catchy hooks at every turn.

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CINDY LAWSON – Hey Santa / Mr. Scrooge

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Back in the dim and distant past of the mid 80s, at a time when The Cars were still chart toppers and The Replacements hadn’t quite made the jump to a major label deal and full-blown melodies, there was a rock ‘n’ roll band called The Clams. That name has since been hijacked by a surf rock band, but the original Minnesota Clams were a great vehicle for garage rock riffs and massive hooks. A lot of people have only really caught up with them via the Rum Bar Records compilation ‘The Complete Clams’ (issued in May 2022), but it’s clear that decades after they disbanded, The Clams were a band with a huge potential. At the very tip of their musical iceberg, ‘He’s Like Heroin’ presented them like a huge-voiced, female fronted Stooges; ‘Give Me A Reason’ served up sixties garage pop loaded with bubblegum sweet melodic hooks and ‘The Dangerous Kind’ showed them dabbling with something much punkier, but with equally cool results. The Clams were a band that often sounded great, no matter what.

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