EP: “Quite Heavy Things” by Plastic Jeezus

Hailing from a seaside town on the South Coast of England; three-piece Plastic Jeezus have been thrilling audiences with their infectious and clever lyrical ditty’s for some time now with slots at festivals from the Wimborne to Wales; and from Lincoln to London, along with numerous national magazine and BBC radio appearances. They released their debut album “Choose Your Own Misadventure” in 2017 and this month follow it up with a brand new EP “Quite Heavy Things”. The Ep is a seven-track affair and the band contains their own brand of unapologetic wit and involuntary musical imagery.

The EP begins with “The Ballad Of A Petty Criminal” which opens with a prudent magistrate passing down a sentence and the rest of the song acts as the defence. The song features a host of petty things that thoroughly annoys us all on a daily basis. “Moaning With Pleasure” sadly has nothing to do with sex but is a tune that takes on the great British past time of moaning. If moaning was an Olympic sport the British would definitely win gold. The lyrics are an observation of things we see all the time, set to an infectious backdrop of Ukulele and the synonymous foot-tapping rhythms the band is known for.

“A Fathers Advice” has a reggae/ska vibe to it and a fantastic middle eight that grabs you with its canny melodious magic. It’s a tongue-in-cheek Father and Son chat which features sound advice from the elder. Like many of the Plastic Jeezus songs “Leg Day” has a very familiar feel with it’s tune really reminding me of something done by The Beat in the 1980’s, but that’s surely just a coincidence. It uses a term that the Urban Dictionary says has multiple meanings for, but in this case it’s to do with the procrastination of working out. “Part Crustacean” is a huge tune featuring some great opening drumming from “Dangerous Dave”, combined with some fine basslines from “Mr. Calm”, before Simon tells you he’s in love with a “Part Crustacean” called Michelle (Think About it? It’s quite clever). The band even introduce some keyboard work to add a slightly different dimension to it. It would almost fit in at one of those Northern Soul events….it did say almost!

If you prefer to buy CD’s to downloads then you are in for a special bonus as this EP comes with a CD Only track called “Patchwork Covers”; which has become a live favourite, where the band challenge the audience to count how many lines from other peoples songs they can cleverly fit into one song. It features tunes by Nirvana, Beck, Radiohead and Oasis to name but a few, have a listen and see how many you can count….answers on a postcard to Simon Fernand and a winner picked at random will win tickets to the first “Plastic Jeezus” gig in space in 2035. Once again Plastic Jeezus have delighted us with a set of tunes that make you laugh, think and tap your feet at the same time. (Particularly difficult if you are a non-multitasking man).

Track Listing
The Ballad of a Petty Criminal
Moaning with Pleasure
A Father’s Advice
Leg Day
Part Crustacean
Patchwork Covers- Demo (CD only Bonus Track)

Band Members
Mr. Calm Aaron Roberts – Bass, Mouth
Dangerous Dave Morrison- Drums, Mouth
T’Other Simon Fernand – Ukulele, Mouth

Additional yelling – Pippa, Dan and Odin
Produced, mixed and mastered by Dan Evans at Aandmade Studios.
Cover photography by Scott Chalmers.

Video

Links
https://www.facebook.com/PlasticJeezus
https://plasticjeezus.bandcamp.com

Words & Picture By David Chinery (Chinners).