The Exbats
Now Where Were We

THE REVIEW

Rock 'n' roll, generational conflict, father I want to kill you, mother I want to … who knows what.

All nonsense.

The Exbats is Inez McClain – singer and drummer – who for about ten years has been bringing her dad Kenny along to play guitar on improbable yet demented garage (pop) punk anthems, defying the generational conflict.

Does it work? It sure does, four albums are there to prove it along with a flood of demotapes, singles, and EPs given away left and right, until one of the Oblivian brothers – Eric – notices Inez and Kenny and brings them to Goner, which releases in 2021 "Now Where Were We" and in a couple of months "Song Machine." Even though the garage sound that comes out of numerous Oblivians' vinyls is as far as can be from what comes from the Exbats' records; and the distance is even greater after "Now Where Were We."

The fourth Exbats album is a transitional one, where garage remains an ideal attitude and pop takes over, like Mamas & Papas spun with Ramones – the first embryo, the trio with Joey on drums and Dee Dee on vocals – and if the first three rush in like a sprinter, "Now Where Were We" has more of a middle-distance runner's pace.

Side A works wonderfully, among the flower choruses that sprinkle "Coolsville USA," "Best Most Least Worst," "Best Kiss," and "Hey New Zealand," the electrifying country sway that derails "Practice On Me" and the campfire folk that warms "One Foot In The Light."

Side B works almost as well, driven by the ghostly garage riff that resurfaces in "Ghost In The Record Store" and "Like A Son" but especially by an "I Don’t Wanna Feel Dead" borrowed from Shangri-Las or another all-female vocal group popular in the '60s; it works less well in the vague psychedelic wave that floods "Drop The Rebound" and decidedly poorly in the attempt to redo Violent Femmes in the final and honestly sloppy "I Don’t Trust Myself Around Jesus."

And if the album isn't top marks – for those purists, with garage rigor, I recommend the collection of the very first tracks "E Is 4 Exbats" – they instead get full marks, regardless, for the front and back covers and above all the somewhat carefree and somewhat delirious attitude of Inez and Kenny.