The Growlers
City Club
(Cult Records, LLC)

City Club is the fifth studio album by The Growlers. It’s a 13-song gem of a record of great songwriting and straight-ahead rock playing. The title track opens, a chunky groove-of-a-tune with a high-toned flicky guitar and slippery lead vocals. From the start, once again we know we are in expert hands with this Southern California band. Songs like “Dope on A Rope,” a great growly bass number, and “Vacant Lot” keep up the thick, double vocals and wonderful, deep, layered vibe, while we get a nice mid-tempo, bass-led ballad with “When You Were Made.” “The Daisy Chain” has a blaring organ and full wacky snap swirl to it. “Too Many Times” drives along with a loose-sounding snare and those funky layered electrics again, while “Blood of a Mutt’ is a big, noisy electric drag-out torch song. This track might be my favorite here; it’s just full of nasty drama. Another high-energy tune, “Speed Living,” this one with a low horn bleating, ends City Club. The album is yet another smashing album from The Growlers, a band who has their sound tightly wound, know how to write great tunes and deliver on a style that can’t be denied. Yes, there have been some band member changes lately and some could argue this is less a full band album than a release by the two main songwriters/players Brooks Nielsen and Matt Taylor, but it is still very good stuff.