For the past few months, we’ve been thoroughly enjoying several releases from Leicester (UK) band, 9 o’clock Nasty. Delighting us with their unique brand of quirky garage rock, 9 o’clock Nasty always keep us on our toes.
Sleepy Policeman is their latest release and is out today (November 12, 2022). As with almost all of 9 o’clock Nasty’s tracks, we take a little while to formulate a response. Their tongue-in-cheek humour always at the front of everything they do. From their music, lyrics, and photos to their social media feed and press kit, this is a band able to make us smile without fail.
Sleepy Policeman is one of the more quirky tracks that we’ve heard from 9 o’clock Nasty, and for those of you following the band’s career, you’ll no doubt be intrigued to hear what they could have created that is even more quirky than, for example, I’m Bent, or their fascination with riding evil elephants.
Sleepy Policeman defies description. “Quirky” is probably the best we can do here! With two shouty lead vocals that sometimes compete in each ear for attention and sometimes call to you together, it is a song that gets under your skin. The harmony sections in the chorus are actually beautiful and display the obvious talent and quality musicianship that this band holds.
Reminding us more often than not of Pink Floyd’s, The Wall, this is a track which feels both timeless and modern. It is a song which could easily be the hidden bonus track on The Wall that we’ve only just discovered.
The electric guitar solo is very stereo sounding and doubled. At times it reminded us of Arctic Monkeys, Do I Wanna Know. The organ stabs underneath the solo fill out the instrumental section perfectly.
The electric guitar at the start of the song feels a little creepy and made us uncomfortable. Almost as though someone had just got their first whammy bar and wanted to show us all how it worked!
There’s something about 9 o’clock Nasty that is winning us over, song after song. We’re not entirely sure what it is, but we love these guys. They’re shaping up to be one of the Send Me Your Ears team’s favourites. They challenge our ears with every new release and we are excitedly following their progress.
From a production perspective, a hi-pass filter at 35Hz would remove all the unnecessary rumble in the sub-bass area. A boost in the top 2 octaves as well would add some extra brightness and presence, making the track sound more ‘real’. The overall track is quiet in comparison to other releases so a light compressor/ limiter and maybe 6-7dB of make up gain would bring the volume up as well as add thickness and fullness to the sound.
What is it about 9 o’clock Nasty that is so appealing? What is it that makes them one of our favourites this year? Perhaps it’s their creativity, their quirkiness and more than anything, their sense of fun. Who wants to hear a band that takes themselves too seriously anyway?