UNSTUCK – OCCUPIED

For fans of Green Day and 90s alt rock, this might just check a few boxes. This is the debut single from this Irish “fuzz pop” trio and they sound as if they’re ready to hit the ground running.

One thing that really stands out to us, is the amount of effort that has been put into the YouTube video that accompanies the song. With quirky cartoons and lyrics flashing across the screen, you can’t help but feel that Unstuck are working hard on developing their own unique image.

Vocally sounding a great deal like Billie Joe Armstrong, the lead singer holds the track together, whilst on occasion, some layered vocals join him and bolster up the sound. We loved the harmonies here and would strongly recommend that these guys add this to their songs a lot more.

As with this style of music, the drums are punishing, fast and well played. We imagine that Unstuck are likely to be a great band to see perform live.

We really liked the attention to detail in places – particularly the cool left to right sweep on guitars in the middle of the track.

Sitting at just 2 minutes and 21 seconds, Occupied is just the right length for this genre. It has a kind of quirky, punky, attitude that powers straight in, says everything it wants to say and then all of a sudden it’s all over.

With regard to the production, here are a few simple EQ tips we can offer to help with the mix. Firstly, a fairly large boost around 60Hz would make the kick drum a little more audible in the mix. We felt that there is an imbalance between the tuning of the batter head on the snare and the sound of the snare wires. A surgical cut at 200Hz would reduce the dominating sound of the top snare mic and a large boost across the high mids and highs would increase the presence of the snare wires. This high end boost would add to the overall brightness and clarity in the track as a whole.

This is a promising start for this new trio. We look forward to their five track EP which is currently being recorded. For fans of punky 90s rock.