It's probably the curse of the reviewer but it sometimes seems that every band you hear has gone retro. Lately, there has been a lot of stuff from back to the eighties bands coming through the letterbox here at Bluesbunny Towers. It's wasn't funny the first time and it is just worrying now. The Merchants, however, manage to time travel back to Glasgow in 1981 just before it all went wrong.
What we have here is six tracks of punk flavoured rock. Not punk rock but punk flavoured rock. That's what Glasgow was like in '81. Take the trend, steal all the good bits and add it into that Scottish melting pot of rock. The songs on this six track EP likewise have their musical influences truly infused into them. No beating about the bush either with songs like "Get Yourself Together" taking on macho man behaviour and television indoctrination just like Sham 69 would have done. If love without a storybook ending songs rocks your boat, then "Hate is A Strong Word" should hit the mark. There's nothing subtle here - Mark Byrne's gravelly vocals ensure that - but equally there's no lack of intelligence or emotion either.
Are The Merchants new working class heroes? Perhaps they are. Certainly, Glasgow needs bands like this. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that The Merchants are what Glasvegas purport to be. Bet they are great live.