Thee Rum Coves Interview & Show # 566

Describing themselves as “Rock n soul played by punks”, New Zealand’s Thee Rum Coves bring a bounty of guitar riffs made up of part 60s garage rock, soul and 70s punk on their newest self-titled release. The current line-up is made up of Jake Harding on vocals/guitar, Jono Goss (drums), Tomas Marin (guitar), Jimmy Christmas (bass), and Kendall Elise (keys/vocals). Ryan Alderton also plays bass on several of the songs on the band’s full-length. Having roots in the UK and New Zealand, Jake Harding has a long musical history. He has played in several bands such as The Milk Monitors, The Revs and is a founding member of The D4, a New Zealand garage rock group from 2000’s in which he played bass. Jimmy Christmas, who plays bass in Thee Rum Coves was also a founding member and guitarist/vocalist in The D4. Thee Rum Coves opens with “A Simple Little Lie”, a song made up of part 60s garage riffs ala The Yardbirds and part Buzzcocks guitar riffs. Lyrically the song blurs the line between reality and fiction of a rendezvous with words that bounce back and forth between the barrage of drums, guitar and bass. “Baby Please” showcases Harding and Elise’s vocal interplay amongst R&B rave up garage sounds. “Dirty Thief,” foretells “a tale of broken hearts, unrequited hearts and revenge” (as described on the Thee Rum Coves bandcamp page) while echoing the influences of The Sonics, attacking with grittiness similar to “A Simple Little Lie”.

“Time & Time Again” and “Two Strong Arms” convey messages of change, while they revolve with a garage punk sound, leaning heavier on the 60’s side. “Cosmo” stretches out during its almost four-minute length, displaying elements of both a psychedelic nature, watery splashes of surf, R&B bass grooves and a sprawling guitar solos. The song also emphasizes the live nature of the band captured throughout this album, feeling like a mid-set number before “She Waits For Me”. Musically, the song features ethereal guitar, drums and basslines, while vocally this song once again brings forth the dual vocal interplay between Harding and Elise. The lyrics portray darker elements in contrast to vocal harmonies on this album’s seventh track.

The album then picks up again in a voluminous fashion up to the album’s closing track “Nasty Evil Sickness”. This song reverberates with the loose riffs of The Stooges and psychedelic sounds of Love’s “7 and 7 Is”. Whereas Arthur Lee once sung of the growing up and desire for change “sitting in a bottle and pretending that he was in a can”, Harding sings of a different kind of entrapment, a possessive state of mind that may not change. As a bonus track, Thee Rum Coves ends with “GCSB” a song with jagged guitar riffs, smooth bass and splintering lyrics that offer a catch-22 message of be careful what you say. A rum cove is defined as a clever rogue in the 1811 Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue. For their debut full-length release, Thee Rum Coves wrangle up an album’s worth of songs from their alcove of retro inspired sounds. The songs on Thee Rum Coves will sneak up on you and hit you over the head with their mischievous spirit.

Check out the interview that I did with Jake Harding of Thee Rum Coves:



For more Rum Cove sounds visit Thee Rum Coves bandcamp page.

Saturday Night Playlist:

1. La De Das - How Is The Air Up There?
2. The Small Faces - Whatcha Gonna Do About It (French EP Version)
3. The Clean - Sad Eyed Lady
4. Nap Eyes - The First Night Of The Show
5. Black Mountain - Druganaut
6. Tough Age - The Gutter Lemon
7. The Milk Monitors - Don’t Lean On Me
8. The Revs - Julie Got A Raise
9. The D4 - What U Want
10.Thee Rum Coves - Simple Little Lie

JAKE HARDING OF THEE RUM COVES INTERVIEW

11. Thee Rum Coves - Dirty Thief
12. The MC5 - The Human Being Lawnmower
13. The Gories - Detroit Breakdown
14. Dead Ghosts - That Old Feeling
15. The Northwest Company - Hard To Cry
16. The Kinks - Party Line
17. The Who - Disguises
18. Aron D’Alesio - Diamond Ring
19. The Mighty Swells - Ginchy
20. The Angels - Buckshot
21. The Pointed Sticks - It’s O.K.
22. Devo - Strange Pursuit
23. Damaged Bug - The Mirror
24. The Scavengers - Mysterex (Version 2)
25. The Stooges - Money (That’s What I Want) (Olympic Studio Tapes 1972)
26. Teenanger - Think About It

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for June 27. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.