The Owen Guns are a hardcore punk band with members split between Sydney and the South Coast in New South Wales, Australia. They play old school punk with a sense of humour and no respect for anything and anyone – especially themselves. The songs are a mix of politics, humour and rants at whatever happens to be pissing the singer off at the time.
The band released their debut EP Violating Community Standards on the 14th of August 2020 through Golden Robot Records/Riot Records. Recorded at RTN Studios by Geoff Mullard, mastered at Foley St. Studio
The first single “Fuck Cyclists” (1:07) came out on the 9th of June, lyrically it is an antagonistic rant with an element of humour and musically it is a punchy punk song with a good tempo.
The second single “It’s Too Late” (2:09) was released on the 6th of July and it showed another side of the band with a much darker, heavier and serious mood. The lyrics explore themes like betrayal and revenge, while the music feels like a slab of hardcore fury with a kick ass breakdown. Interestingly this song was co-written with Adam “Checky” Check (Toe to Toe/One Dollar Short)
The third single “The Ballad Of Cheeto Hitler” (1:53) was released on the 3rd of August and is about that fuzzy orange thing in the white house, the lyrics have a political punk feel backed by frustration and the music is still punchy punk with distorted guitar and a strong rhythm section but this one includes a messy guitar solo which keeps me coming back to it.
I really liked the way that The Owen Guns were able to use the notifications from censorship activities as promotion, they totally should have edited out the word “our” though. It is interesting to note that the other three tracks on the EP have a different sound from the bass, “Rent” and “No” are both great songs with heavy hardcore vibes and strong bass parts but the tone is noticeably different. I’m not entirely sure what to make of “Shitty Music for Shitty People (Ska Sucks)” so I skip that track and listen to the others some more.
