Straight outta Chepstow come Bottlekids with their rampant self-titled extended player. Led by Joe Grogan (yes, he of Graveyard Johnnys fame), this trio of street urchins come knocking at your back door with four meaty slabs of punk rock for you to sample at your peril.

25 Days kicks off the show with an in-your-face guitar assault as Joe proclaims “I want to be alone, no place to go.” Chugging palm-muting breaks things up nicely as that thunderous bass tone cuts as dirty as Lemmy’s jockstrap. Following suit with jaunty verse guitars, Smokes, Let’s Go! has the vocal melody of Elvis Costello and the attack of New Wave era Against Me! “My body’s aching all the time” – yep, I hear ya, Bottlekids. I hear ya.

Dark Times is a floor tom stomper before those pop sensibilities take over once more. The pop of which I speak is of the power variety. It’s as if The Knack got lost in the Welsh countryside and were force-fed a speedball instead of bara brith at teatime. With more machine gun drumming and a guitar hook to die for, The Wayside closes the show and things are over way too soon. I think they’re teasing us, rock fans. They’re keeping us keen by treating us mean.

With esteemed knob-twiddler Romesh Dodangoda at the helm, Bottlekids’ debut is a huge, blistering affair. There’s no time for guitar noodling wankery, just straight-up punk rock. Yes, the lazy man may shout Green Day and I think that would bother Bottlekids not. I’m sure there’s a zillion naughties pop punk bands for me to reference too, but all I hear is honest rock ‘n’ roll. Keep these oiks in warm, pissy lager by purchasing this 12” E.P. Trust me, this will be the soundtrack to your summer. Ginge Knievil

Check out Bottlekids here