Sandworms - "...It's A Fucking Demo" review:

By Jason Duarte

Arising after The Steinways' summer farewell comes Sandworms. Well, one offshoot of The Steinways - this one containing The Steinways' bassist, Michelle Brachfeld. Unlike The Steinways' lead singer, Grath's more recent pop punk bands such as House Boat and Barrakuda McMurder, which both still heavily echo The Steinways, Sandworms takes a more aggressively simple approach, tweaking what's become the popular sound in today's pop punk genre. These songs are reminiscent of instrumental Canadians, Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet. Sandworms have that heavy surf/rock edge to them. And I'm not just talking about the reverbed vocals, baby!

Of the demo's five songs, the first is the catchiest and also very reminiscent of the late Shorebirds (from Olympia, WA). I kept thinking the Sandworms' intro riff is in a Shorebirds song, but I couldn't find it to compare the two. If you're not familiar with Shorebirds, Sandworms can be compared to a Latterman and Jawbreaker hybrid, mixed with a little bit of that special something - originality.

So! The first song, "Born, Raised and Trapped With You" is a sweet one, I thought. Lyrically speaking, this is why:
"And I was born to live in a bunker and I was raised with nothing to do/And if I'm trapped here anyway, I don't mind being trapped here with you," sings lead vocalist/guitarist Jon Davies.
After listening to the song a few times, you might strangely feel like dancing and not really know why. Track two is called "El Diablo." It has more of a slowed down, classic rock feel combined with a heavy dose of power pop. Ah, yes. There's the surf influence: the whammy bar over Mr. Davies' clean guitar with slides up the neck here and there. The eclectic combination of punk, surf and rock make this tune a fun one to listen to.
"You're makin' me sea sick/You're makin' me sea sick/Sea sick of everything that you said/Sea sick of you," is the frequently repeated chorus to track three: "Sea Sick." I got the opposite feeling from this song than from "Born, Raised and Trapped With You," but this one sounds more poppy, more upbeat and has a hint of "I don't really care anymore/I'm too frustrated to care" in there, but I can't quite understand the exact feeling. Maybe regarding a relationship? "Sea Sick" definitely sings a feeling of freedom. I'll leave it at that.

Sandworms are different than about 95% of the other pop punk and pop punk-influenced bands of today. Instead of immediately thinking, "Oh they must have listened to The Ramones too. Ho hum," Sandworms has a sound that I straight up haven't exactly heard anywhere else. Even though Brachfeld is in the band, I hear zero Steinways. I like that kind of musical diversity in musicians. Brachfeld also does backup vocals on the demo, adding a nice dynamic to the music and a nice compliment to Jon's leads.
The five tracks total an enjoyable 12 minutes and 29 seconds. This CD gets 4 stars out of 5. Considering it is only a demo, I am already anticipating a full-length and hope to hear some of these tunes on it.
"...It's A Fucking Demo" was released on Time To Operate Records and can be found on their MySpace site for $4 ppd and on Time To Operate Records' Web site.