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Sloom is a band that you can listen to, if you want. The psych rock/blues act is made up of four mates from Sydney’s inner west. Cristian Di Paolo (vocals/guitar), Chris Diamond (vocals/guitar), Jamie Graham (drums) and Dane Macintosh (bass) have just recorded and produced their second EP, Wasp Honey. You don’t often hear a mix of old school blues and psychy rock whipped together with such ease, yet the EP exists as an ice cold blend of clashing genres so smooth it must have been zapped in a brand new Nutri-Bullet.
If you’re into rollicking, head-banging, blues driven rock then Sloom are the band for you. Wasp Honey sees them take their garage rock leanings into the shed with spectacular results.
With influences ranging from Ty Segall, Jack White, King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard and The Beatles, Wasp Honey harnesses a garage soul with a otherworldly twist. The overall sound is broken up like a Cadbury top deck: the white choc top (and most dominant part, for all you dairy free/choccie haters) is grungy rock, oozing in wailing vocals and scratchy guitar – catchy as hell. Add this to a milk chocolate base of laid back blues and you’ve got one tasty musical treat.
Chocolate in the Middle has a 90s rock vibe, which I think has something to do with the cheery chords in the intro. The epic drumming stops it from being corny, adding a reckless playfulness similar to something like Dune Rats. Such A Man is a howlin’ blues track that reminds me of Cream’s Disraeli Gears.
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The boys have nailed their top deck mix, with lead vocals linking to Janis Joplin with a solid beat underneath. Sparked up with reverb and feedback adding a rock ‘n’ roll edge, Such A Man is a jump into an underground club where almost everyone is up to something incredibly fun and illegal.
Magic Cup takes you on a psychedelic trip saturated in sunset colours of orange and yellow. Along with If I Only Try, these tracks have a sick build up of cymbals and a mash up of strings that makes you wanna move you feet and head bang your neck into a sorry state the next morning. Waiting For You shows off the band’s electric guitar chops – they’ve probably listened to a lot of Hendrix.
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The final stop on the rollercoaster journey of Wasp Honey is Isolated. A spikey ooze of bluesy rock, this track it’s got a bit of a surfy vibe to it. By ‘surfy’ I mean maybe it’s what surfers sing when their sad and bored because there’s no good waves, whilst still maintaining an effortless ‘too-cool-to-care’ affect. I didn’t even realize it goes for over 5 minutes. It’s just that cool.
Sloom have nailed their own version of garage rock – shed rock. It’s pretty much the same, just more Aussie and cheerful. Shed rock is likely to be played at a backyard show with all of your mates, a clothesline and some goon. Wasp Honey is shed rock pumped with enough blues to make it cool, but not so much that it’s forced. It seems Sloom is making music for the love of music, which is as refreshing as an ice cold banana smoothie (with Chocolate in the Middle).
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