David Delinquent & the IOU’s: Rocksteady Girl – single review

David Delinquent & the IOU’s – Rocksteady Girl / Hanging Out (MTAT Recordings)
Limited Edition CD/DL
out now
The Dundee Pop-Punk Rock’n’Roll band show their potential and their class on their first single.
Pop-punk became a bit of a dirty word thanks to a deluge of American commercial slag that slammed the label.
The IOU are more of a real punk rock’n’roll ‘power pop’ band. Like replacements or decent, Green Day start. Groups with bullshit but also catchy harmonies and songs.
I covered David’s previous band, The Delinquents Sober on Sunday EP in April 2019 and their album in July 2017. Barely five years old, but that seems like a lifetime away.
David is a friend on Facebook and I couldn’t help but follow his trials and tribulations over the years. A short, round guy who loved alcohol, he got sober and put himself through a strenuous exercise regimen to lose weight and get in shape. He looks like a new man and has put together a terrific new band as he rushes into his thirties.
Rocksteady Girl” / “Hanging Out” is the second release in the Make-That-A-Take Homegrown Singles series. Written and performed by the band, these two jams were recorded live in Conroy’s basement at Rad Apples , Dundee by Nicholas Mayer in August 2022. The recordings were later also mixed and mastered by Nicholas at home and released as a digital download and super-limited edition two-track single CD…
You’d never know it’s a small label, independent production – it sounds like any American ‘Corporate Punk’ out on Hellcat or Epitaph. And they replicate it live effortlessly…
…as you can hear – and see, thanks to Conroy’s basement CCTV.
It’s not about breaking new ground, but it’s about beautifully streamlined classic punk-inspired rock music, cut into perfect pop nuggets. He may still be a delinquent at heart, but David is a committed and talented songwriter and with the backing of the IOU they are good enough to compete nationally or internationally.
Buy on Bandcamp
THIS WEEKEND – the IOU play not one but two Scottish Punk All-dayer Festivals!
Dundee’s Punktoberfest #11 Fri 28-Sat October 29, 2022 – Beat Generator, Dundee, two stages and over 25 bands playing…including XSLF, Janus Stark, The Guillotines, Buzzbomb, Dead City Rebels, The Apparents, The Red Eyes, IL Complesso, Uganda’s Moonshine Epidemic, David Delinquent and The IOU’s, Millions Will Die, May Contain Nuts, Toxik Ephex, The Liars,
Punkoween at PJ Molloy’s in Dunfermline – Sunday 30 October 2022 – alongside Goodbye Blue Monday, The Overbites, Kamihamiha!, Caitlin Day, The Guillotines, For Pony!, The Wee Reprobates, Dog Eared, Hard Stare and He Lies Still. £15 on the door. £10 before 5pm! Costumes encouraged!
All the words Ged Babey
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