The Serfs are from Cincinnati. I like them already just for coming from there. A city that gave us the Cincinatti Reds, Happy Days and Afghan Whigs. They have a Punk name, their latest album is called Half Eaten By Dogs which is also very Punk and rattles on decidedly Punk rails from opening track Order Imposing Sentence onwards.
Not everything that's called Punk is Punk in my book. It's not a set of rules that's for sure. That's exactly what it's not. The Serfs serve up reminders of '75 to '79, that's for sure. Of Pere Ubu and Suicide on the opening tracks here. But they have an innate undersatnding of what made these bands great, not simply the urge, (which is a great Punk instinct BTW) to simply lift their rifts.
I became increasingly impressed by and immersed in Half Eaten By Dogs as it played on. It's mastery of primitive forms. Its swagger and estranged pallor. The record was so good it made me want to read Please Kill Me, Again!
The Serfs are playing Beachland Ballroom & Tavern in Cleveland this November. It's the only date I can see in their diaries at the moment. I will see them if they get ever to Newcastle. I hope they do. They are a band with an innate understanding of what makes certain things thrillingly great and an ability to be thrillingly great themselves.
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