White Frog – Don’t Let The Bastards Grind You Down (Album Review)

Today’s review features White Frog and their new album “Don’t Let the Bastards Grind You Down.”

White Frog is a punk rock band from the black country West Midlands. The band is fronted by Richard Harris. The band cites their musical inspiration as “real life experiences and the paranormal.” Their songs feature the “hard gritty truth with plenty of cynicism.” Liam Guest plays guitar for the band. The band focuses on putting out “classic punk rock from the late 70s and early 80s. Richard is the lead vocalist with Liam contributing backing vocals. The new album was engineered by Adam Nightingale at Phantom Power studios in Birmingham.

So let’s have a listen …

When the Frog People Came starts with an exciting “Welcome to the White Frog Experience.” The song has a simple, steady, repetitive rhythm, with a talking vocal “the man got reduced to a peasant for undermining.” “There’s nothing stronger than the power of the people.” I dig the lyrics.

The Pollen’s Evil Around Here. This is straightforward punk. The vocals very much remind me of The Clash and scores of English punk bands from the 70s and 80s. The vocals are very clear on this recording. I think the guitars could actually be louder, nastier, but the playing is definitely punk!

I Want the Drugs. Another simple punk rhythm, but very tasty. “Tell me when the relief will come.” Loving the “I want the drugs!” chorus. Don’t we all? Lol. “You can keep your natural remedies.” “No herbal tea.”

The fourth song is the title cut “Don’t Let the Bastards Grind You Down.” I’m loving the lyrics on this punk album. “Stuff the system and don’t let the bastards grind you down!” The only thing holding me back from a full punk meltdown is that the mix sounds a little too clear, not quite nasty enough for old school English punk.

“Grave in Your Garden” is about Penyfford Farm a haunted house in North Wales. We all have our buried little secrets. The sound of the guitars on this one is like a very clean version of Nirvana. I keep wanting to hear this band step on some distortion pedals. I like the 80s synthesizer that comes in at the end of this song.

Flies starts with a bass riff over a simple drum beat. “Crush those little flies.” The lyrics on this album are clever and definitely all punk. Another Nirvana-light mix on the guitars makes me wonder about the engineer.
Wendy, the seventh song on the album. Finally, the guitars are sounding more punk. Apparently, Wendy has a lot of cats and not so many visitors. The chorus is catchy on this tune. I can definitely see a punk audience head-banging to this tune in the pub when the chorus comes around.

All My Friends Are Weirdos. Pretty straightforward punk riffage here. Loving the bendy lead guitar riff over the chorus, simple, but effective. Weird, but in a cool way. I like the bass and drum breakdown towards the end of the song, with the lead guitar playing the same simple riff on repeat.

We Love You Laura. “This one goes out to you, we know who you are.” The band says “Laura is always showing us much love, so we wrote a song about her. She’s a big fan and an amazing artist.” Laura is a musician who’s just killing the boys on the charts, according to the song.

Gen X Millennial is the final song on this epic punk album. Very simple riff, with punk-laden lyrics. “I’m a Gen-X Millennial.” “Old school grit,” but with a digital edge. “A paradox in stride.” “Learn to hustle, learn to wait.” “A cynical smirk, with an open mind.” The lyrics are very clever on this album. I like how the band ends the last song with “And the album’s done!”

The production on this album is very clean and clear. Maybe even a bit too digital and clear for this type of punk? You can tell, however, that this band would be quite entertaining at a live show. And that’s very, very punk!

SCORE/Excellent: White Frog delivers an epic punk album with Don’t Let the Bastards Grind You Down. Very clever, very punk lyrics over grinding punk guitars. Exceptionally well-written songs for the genre. Much love, Beth

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