Cleveland is an homage to Onlooker's Tesside home turf and is not about the American punk hub in Ohio. Onlooker are Will Rayment, Bruce Hobson, Ben Goodwill, Kevin Ridden and Michael Kitching, who recorded all over the northeast and produced everything themselves, before Graham Thompson Mastered it at SoundSchitty.
The album opens with Formula Tofu a modern alternative punk tune for the joys of tofu, how much they don't like the rather tasteless spongy Tofu they think you should leave on a shelf, rather than properly marinating.
Sit Tight don't move, turn up the stereo and enjoy listening to this tune that will help you through another weird day in the 2020's. The anger in the vocals is similar to Aerial Salad, this is low slung and claims that if we pretend enough everything will be alright.
Cuppa Tea gives us the bands perfect Cuppa Tea, but they don't let us know if it's Darjeeling, or PG Tips or something more exotic, but if you follow the instructions in this tune you will get a decent Cuppa Tea, I want to see them getting an audience punching the air and chanting Cuppa Tea with them, the guitar solo comes in to nail the proper ratios.
Peaceful Protest a story of going to a Peaceful Protest, they are ready to show up and they have told the family where they will be, so stand up for the rights of the oppressed, go out and make your voice count peacefully.
Wishing Wellaye is an angry screed with low slung guitars and raging guitars, every time you see that person you are always Wishing Wellaye even when they don't deserve it. Carpool is thankfully Corden free, built on a sylphlike bassline and kinetic guitars, allowing the temperature to rise and the joys and dangers of the Carpool become clearer.
Disco Biscuits goes off like they have just come up on different biscuits to each other, they are splintering into shards of light and darkness, seeking a deep bass bed and fractured drums, while Will sounds like he is raging on solvents.
Better Get Better is a song of hope for desperate times, no matter how low you currently feel, know how much responsibility sits on your shoulders, you will find a way for tomorrow to be that better day. Even if the frantic onrushing guitars hint that things may have actually turned to shit once more.
Hook-A-Duck is either them at the fairground again, or out on the pull, trying to find a fine filly they can call Duck to take home with them, frantic urges and pleading that said duck won't fleece them of all the cash they have, giving them that chance at love and desire becoming reality, before the guitars climax.
Suburban Dreams they've had a few, these seem to be the dark nightmarish ones, that they will never get out of the burbs, thankfully none of them seem to be putting rats into their mouths like Flea just yet. This time they will feel fine and let the guitars take the angst away with them.
The album closes with Status Quo the band don't slip into chugging riff territory, or wear Francis pony tails, this dark bass led look, at the unreal slightly surreal place the Status Quo seems to have shifted too currently, they don't like it and want change, with some full throated yelps of agony, will they make it through, well I hope so, we need bands like Onlooker to distract us from the reality of our times.
Find out more at https://serialbowlrecords.bandcamp.com/album/cleveland https://www.facebook.com/onlookertheband
