Released in February 2024, The Sleeveens’ self titled debut launched the band in largely great style. In a little over half an hour, potential fans were reeled in with the help of eleven punk ‘n’ roll numbers that, in the main, fused high octane riffs with a knowing sense of humour. ‘Give My Regards To The Dancing Girls’ provided the perfect opener with its combo of old school punk riffs and distorted vocals; ‘Aretha Franklin’ added a little more of a punk ‘n’ roll feel via a harder sounding guitar, and ‘Metallica Font’ served up pleasingly trashy riffs on an ode to teenage love. Best of all, a cover of The Undertones’ ‘Get Over You’ – dressed in a cloak of distortion – ended up sounding like The Sleeveens had dug up an old Real Kids track and given it a welcome kick. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the perfect debut: the over-long, mid tempo ‘Dry Cider’ did some serious damage to the middle of the album, not just through dragging the mood, but also due to offering some unwelcome lyrical content: a weird, outdated reference to “The Handicap Association” suggested that The Sleeveens really did believe they were still living in 1977. [According to the band, the lyric is based on a real life story from several years ago which puts things in a clearer context, but it doesn’t stop archaic words jarring with a modern ear.]

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