Review for Juicy Fruit (Single) Bandito Rey

Bandito Rey's new single Juicy Fruit is a throwback to some of the best Indie music and certainly one of the best that you are likely to hear in 2015. It would be easy to just compare the band to a number of others and leave it at that, but that belittles the excellent music that has been created. 'Created' is the correct word, as this song feels like they have distilled what made bands like The Verve, Kings of Leon and The Happy Mondays so iconic and mixed them into two and a half minutes of perfection.

Lyrics like “I'm going to get you. I'm going to do things to you that you know you wanted to do.” sound like something Shaun Ryder in his prime would have created and I was surprised by the end how catchy it all was. The ambiguous nature of lines like “I don't think I'm understood. Maybe I am, I don't know” calls back images of Manic Street Preachers “I know I believe in nothing, but it is my nothing.” and I would not be surprised if I was to see T-Shirts with that plastered on it.

When I first heard the band live last year, I was amazed by how much Ioan Llewelyn sounded like Richard Ashcroft. On the single, this is even more prominent. The music by Davy Murphy on Guitar, Dave Copley on Bass and Jams Ward on Drums is infectious and the soundscape they have all been able to create sounds even better in the studio than it does live.

For those looking for something new this year or maybe just wanting to try something a little different I'd wholeheartedly recommend this band. The single can be purchased here where you can also hear more of their music and see when they are playing live. It will be interesting to hear what the band bring to the rest of 2015 and beyond.