No Chaser

Eighteen months on from the runaway success of The Only Place I Know – the debut that crashed in at #1 on the ARIA charts and #2 on the ARIA Vinyl Chart – Lake Macquarie’s Surf Trash are back, and they’re not watering it down. Their sophomore album No Chaser lands neat, on the rocks, no apologies: ten tracks of melodic surf-pop-punk hammered out by a band that has clearly spent the last year sharpening every edge. It’s a record you can hear the kilometres in. Between The Only Place I Know and now, Andrew Scott, Lachlan Jackson, Patrick Russell and Nick Scott have torn through a sold-out national run, criss-crossed the UK and Europe, and made a habit of leaving rooms louder than they found them. No Chaser carries the dust from all of it – bigger choruses, leaner production, a touch more bruise underneath the gloss. There’s still that windows-down, salt-on-the-windscreen feel that made the debut impossible to ignore, but it’s wired into songs that swing harder and cut deeper. Less wistful afternoon, more last-light drive home with the volume creeping up. The four-piece make melodic surf-pop-punk that sounds great turned up loud – driving in your mate’s car on the way back to the beach. Their debut, The Fire Note wrote, “delivers a dynamic debut- blending raw energy, introspective depth, and timeless indie rock flair.” Manchester World called their first show on UK soil “epic- high energy and great song after great song,” and the live reputation has only grown since: a band that’s earned every inch of the ceiling it now hits. No Chaser is the sound of them no longer waiting for permission. Singalong harmonies, fast tempo changes, good old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll with a sense of urgency.