Punk Reviews: Garlic Nun

Garlic Nun is a 4 piece punk rock band from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The band formed around 2018, I asked the band about their origins and they spun the craziest story ever, it gave me a good laugh. Here it is …
“we’ve all known each other for fucking years when our old bands toured together back in maybe 2013? We played a show in Canberra and made a bunch of money so the next night when we were in Sydney we spent all that money and got a couple bags of Sydney bikie cocaine and snorted it off our hostel communal bible. Right there and then we knew that one day we had to start our own separate band…fast forward fucking 6 or so years later and BOOM Garlic Nun started.”

Garlic Nun have two releases under their belts so far with 2018’s “III Pack” which featured the tracks “Shame Warne” (2:39), “Stick On Tic” (1:37) and “Urethane” (2:52), then the 2019 release “High Society/The Nunnery” featuring those tracks.

Garlic Nun have finally released their debut album “Street Meat” and its everything I wanted, from the opening track “Dear Tracy” (2:22) which was the lead single to the final track “High Society” (3:56), the only track from their back catalogue to make the album. I think a reference to Tracy Grimshaw at the start of the album does enough to let you know it’s an Australian release and I really liked the music video, you can check it out below

The second track “One Man Shop” (3:06) is an absolute banger with ups and downs, it has a super catchy chorus and the vocal melody is as rock & roll as the dirty guitar parts, I like the way this song ends with a hardcore style speed run to the finish. The next track “Cocaine Vampire” (3:22) has more great guitar work, I’m really digging the intro and solo parts. Having established a soft/heavy writing style the next track “Hollywood Flu” (2:51) continues the trend with a few nice bars from the guitar before everyone joins in, this packs a huge punch before settling in to a verse that is driven by the bass and drums, the bass tone is great and the guitar stabs and fills during the verse parts keep it interesting. The vocals on this track should get you singing along, the melody and delivery give it a catchy quality.

“Disco Mistress” (3:24) is well written and the hooks are good, it also has some grunge vibes. “Molotov Mocktail” (2:07) has a hardcore/skatepunk sound and “Peggers Can’t Be Choosers” (1:58) is in a similar style and has more parts where the bass and drums are the driving force. It all gets a bit more intense towards the end and finishing with a banger like “High Society” (3:56) feels like they gave fans that something special, this is a great album.

Garlic Nun is

Stevie “LOVES PEGGING” – vocals

Cazzy “Red Foreskin” – bass

Beautiful Mark – guitar

God damn sexy Mort – drums