Review: the Glorias “Life’ll Get Ya”
If you’re after some Portsmouth based rock n roll, then look no further than “Life’ll Get Ya“ by the Glorias. They may possibly have called it a day in their previous groups, but as a collective, the Glorias prove there’s life in the old dogs yet. So those of you familiar with local Pompey bands the Green Hornets, Night of Treason and the Good Time Charlies, you’ll soon recognise the core members of this bunch of rockers.
As the Glorias They’ve already supported the likes of TV Smith, Ruts DC, Jim Jones and the Righteous Mind along with the UK Subs. Although having headed into the studio to record “Life’ll Get Ya”, this is all about the release of their debut album.
Starting off with not one, but two intro’s in “Riding with the G-Men” and “Let’s Go”, the Glorias soon prove their much tighter than some of their punkier influences. The initial track is a great surf rock instrumental, while the 2nd introduces the vocals of Gerrard Driffield. It’s then down to “No Mercy” to be the first of the bands’ full-on songs, dropping the surf in favour of edgier hard rock.
It’s all Good
Overall the album is full of garage band, punk-based rock n roll, while “No Mercy” also has a sort of latter era Therapy? vibe about it. Next up is “Rollin on” which does exactly that, before “the 9:03” chugs along just like the train journey it’s written about. There’s also a nice touch of local train announcements sampled in the background.
Ultimately “It’s all good” sums things up, as there’s not a bad tune on “Life’ll Get Ya”, maybe that’s because the album is only 33 minutes long. Even if the title track has some cliché lyrics, you can still forgive them as there’s nothing over complicated with the Glorias. That in itself is part of the charm, you stick on “All Systems Failing” and the riff already sounds familiar.
Likewise the album closing with “Trail of Tears” has you singing the backing vocals without even thinking about it. Although, secretly, part of me was hoping for a Dogs D’amour cover of the same name. However as you can see from the video below, while the production on the track makes it sound pretty crisp, the Glorias still know how to kick ass.
