Over the past roughly two years, the rapidly rising Woodstock, NY-based garage punk act The Bobby Lees — Sam Quartin (vocals, guitar), Kendall Wind (bass), Nick Casa (lead guitar), and Macky Bowman (drums) — have begun to receive attention for a feral and frenzied take on garage punk and an unpredictable live show. And as a result, the rising punk rock act has opened for the likes of The Black Lips, Murphy’s Law, Boss Hog, Future Islands, Daddy Long Legs, The Chats, and Shannon & The Clams.
Originally slated for a May 8, 2020 release through Alive Naturalsounds Records, The Bobby Lees’ Jon Spencer-produced full-length album Skin Suit has been pushed back to July 17, 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic — but what still remains is that the album finds the band crafting forceful and self-assured material centered around some of the most blistering and dexterous guitar work I’ve heard this year. So far, I’ve written about three of the album’s singles, the breakneck and explosive “GutterMilk,” a feral and unhinged cover of Bo Diddley’s “I’m A Man,”‘ that nods a bit at George Thorogood‘s famous cover but with a defiant, gender-bending boldness and the sweaty, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion-like “Move.”
“Drive,” Skin Suit‘s fourth and latest single continues a run of grungy and gritty garage punk centered around enormous power chords, mosh pit friendly hooks and a remarkably self-assured delivery. For such a young band, they seem poised to take over the world — with a youthful brashness and zero fucks given air.
The recently released video for “Drive” features the band performing the song in front of a divey tattoo parlor, and it should give the viewer a great sense of the band’s frenetic and unpredictable live energy.
“A couple of months ago we were heading down to Austin, TX for SXSW and playing shows along the way,” the members of The Bobby Lees explain in press notes. “By the time we got to Tulsa, Oklahoma our 9 SXSW shows had been cancelled because of the virus. So we made the best of our time in Tulsa and shot a video with our friends, while keeping a safe distance.”