The Mutt's Nuts
The revelation on the London band’s second album isn’t how exquisitely they channel the shout-along camaraderie of classic British punk and oi (“It’s Me Who’ll Pay,” “Beat That Drum”), or even how they downshift into their ballads (“Take Me Home to London,” “Life’s Lemons”). It’s how their balance of melody and muscle captures a history of working-class music from pub rock to Northern soul, The Jam to Thin Lizzy (“Coming Up Tough,” “Life on the Bayou”). And if hardcore purists find them inauthentic or too poppy, it’s only because they’re more interested in entertaining a wider audience than nurturing their subcultural roots—a transition The Clash made 40 years earlier. Like its title, the music on *The Mutt’s Nuts* is clever, down-to-earth, rude, and a little salty. Bottoms up.
With the glow-up of a bigger indie label behind them for their second album, the UK punks ride again with burly bravado, but it’s notably the work of artists eager to show that they contain multitudes.
The London five-piece built a reputation for their deliciously wild punk spirit; their second album makes many sonic steps forward
As could probably be extrapolated from the record’s title alone, one thing ‘The Mutt’s Nuts’ does well is evoke an approximation of ‘70s pub rock.
London hardcore/pub rock/rhythm-and-blues firebrands Chubby and the Gang's The Mutt's Nuts is, indeed, the dog's bollocks
The Mutt’s Nuts by Chubby and the Gang Album review by Adam Williams. The full-length is now out via Partisan Records and streaming services