Label: Hassle Records
How Not To Be Happy is the sophomore album for South Coast band Gloo. First track ’I Can’t Hear Myself Think’ gets things off to a fiery start with the drums sounding like a train barrelling down the tracks and dirty, distorted bass.
When the guitar starts up it cracks in like a firework. Brothers Tom and Mark Harfield (guitars and drums respectively) speak of how they grew up on AC/DC among others and you can hear the influence in those big open chords. Part punk and part classic rock, Gloo are setting out their intentions early and rarely let their collective foot off the accelerator. Ride follows up with the same amount of energy and enthusiasm. With drums ripping through the track, big open, distorted guitar chords open up the track and make it sound huge. ‘Work So Hard‘ follows, coming as a mix between Nirvana with that driving bass line and snarled vocals and a band like Jet with their open chords and strut.
This theme is at the core of ‘How Not To Be Happy’. There are hints of grunge, garage, 60’s era rock and punk blended together to make a sound that Gloo can call there’s. At times sounding like a riotous call to arms (‘Takes The Piss’s singalong chorus of “why can’t we get along” exemplifies this) and at times coming in like a fuzzy grunge song from the 90’s (‘Swimming In Your Sea’). Gloo are carving out a path of their own and it’s easy to say why they’ve got support from the likes of Radio 1 and Kerrang. Despite the title, Gloo are giving us 10 little reasons to be happy bundled up in to thirty minutes of fury and fun.
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