teamABC - Complaints Dept.

teamABC are a band I stumbled across some time last year through some nice words on Johnny Foreigner’s Formspring account, and as usual Lex didn’t let me down. I downloaded their free “20 Songs By teamABC” compilation (still available here) and from the first track, the unashamedly exuberant Another Fight, Another Defeat, I was hooked. I ended up downloading all the EPs and albums on their bandcamp and eventually ended up buying the beautifully packaged “teamABC Collection”, a handmade 6 CD set of everything they’d recorded up to that point. In short, they’re one of my favourite bands around at the moment and I think they deserve a lot more recognition.

The beautiful, limited edition teamABC boxset, available here.

Along with my box of goodies I received a CD of works-in-progress, ten demos from the next stage of teamABC. Even in their unfinished state, it was clear that the songs represented a step up from what had come before. Where before teamABC recordings had always been the work of one man, the insanely prolific Stef Purenins, and various supporting players, here they sounded for the first time like a proper band, with a bolder, more ambitious sound.

And now, the first taste of the forthcoming “Complaints Dept. EP”, in the form of it’s title track, is available to download, and quite simply it’s marvellous. The rough edges which made teamABC so appealing in the first place are still there, but they’re now joined by a proper shout-along chorus of the kind the aforementioned Johnny Foreigner would be proud. It’s properly ace, and has got me very excited for the actual EP’s release. Now, “Let’s all find some things to complain about!”

Jed. x