The Arturos (named in honour of the late Arturo Vega, the unofficial “5th Ramone”) are a 3 piece punk rock band from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia which was started in late 2016 by Robbie as a solo studio based project. This idea turned into a full fledged band and the first song they wrote was Tokyo-A-Go-Go! … a fitting title for the bands much anticipated debut album.
‘Tokyo-A-Go-Go!’ was released on the 18th of September 2020, it features 16 tracks and has a runtime just under 32 minutes. The Arturos recorded with Adam Merker at Studio Anders Debeerz, the same way they recorded their self titled EP and mastered by Jack Shirley (Western Addiction) at The Atomic Garden Studios in San Francisco.
The only real preview we got in the lead up to this album was the lead single and accompanying video Morticia (2:24) which was released on the 28th of August 2020.
The catchy Ramones type punk rock love song about Morticia of The Addams Family is well written and the music video, shot and directed by Paul Brand & Jordan Mitchell, was rad.
The album opens with Newsflash! (0:46) its an interesting and artistic intro that left me feeling like I needed to watch Godzilla and lead perfectly into the next song, Tokyo-A-Go-Go! (2:08). The title track has all the usual style of their Ramones inspired sound and the anticipated Godzilla reference ties the first two tracks together well.
The lyrical content on ‘Tokyo-A-Go-Go!’ is a mixture of things from the Ramones (Joey) to relationship issues (She’s Psycho, Two Timer) and horror references (Morticia). This album has a lot of the same appeal that was present on the bands self titled debut EP, the song ‘I Know’ (2:18) is actually from that release and songs like ‘New York Groove’ (2:19) and ‘Moscow’ (2:13) might seem weird for other Aussie bands to pull off, The Arturos do it perfectly.
Musically you can expect the familiar Ramones inspired sound the band has always delivered, the simplistic and accessible chord progressions coming from a distorted guitar, solid drumming and a ballsy bass. The tracks ‘Misomaniac’ (1:32) and ‘Two Timer’ (1:41) offered up some variety to an already solid album
The Arturos are Bobbie Arturo – guitar/vocals Robbie Arturo – bass/vocals Danny Arturo – drums/cymbals
- Facebook Link – https://www.facebook.com/thearturosbrisbane
- Bandcamp Link – https://thearturos.bandcamp.com
- Instagram Link – https://www.instagram.com/thearturosbrisbane/?hl=en
- Triple J Unearthed Link – https://www.triplejunearthed.com/artist/arturos
