New Riot are a new band formed from the ashes of Fandangle, but truth be told, line-up changes aside, there’s not that much difference between the two bands – both are heavily Americanised, polished ska-punk bands with New Riot perhaps slightly more Less Than Jake to Fandangle‘s Reel Big Fish. So if you don’t like any of that, stop reading now because you won’t like this EP. It’s pretty standard fare for the genre; the horns toot and the guitars and vocals are super melodic. But it just doesn’t offer up anything new and it’s exactly the same brand of ska-punk RBF belted out in about ’96 when they shot to fame with ‘Sell Out’.
‘Blood, Sweat and Beers’ is about as fashionable as a shellsuit but fair play to the band for sticking to what they clearly love to play and love to listen to. The problem, if you can call it a problem, is this record is just devoid of fresh ideas – it’s very dated sounding and hasn’t really moved on from music that infiltrated the mainstream over a decade ago. But if you’re a bit wacky, and perhaps even a student who likes [spunge] and putting cones on your head after a night out, New Riot may well just spice up your life a bit.