THE QWARKS
Nice While It Lasted
Brighton, United Kingdom
‘Nice While It Lasted’ by The Qwarks is one of the best proto-punk sounds you will ever hear. The blend of brass, guitar, hard rock percussion and layered vocals is gritty, funky and a downright blast. Think, Talking Heads fronted by Sid Vicious, the sound is wild, eclectic, clockwork orange. The lyrics tickle at first, fancy and free, but then you find them on your car door, in your fridge, on the pages of your books. A song for the masses and for the little people, The Qwarks are experimenting with rock in ways that we have never heard before, refreshing like a grimace on a poodle, and I love it.
The instrumental is played with astounding passion and skill, the members of The Qwarks have obviously been playing for years. The song begins such an instrumental, bass, guitar, horns, whirling like a cyclone as the drums catch the beat and reel it home. The vocals chime into the foray and the squad sets up to assault your senses. Punk influence can be felt throughout, especially in the vocal, and it leads to a brilliant scene in your head. A special shout-out to the spoken parts on the track which I will echo for my final statement:
“Yeah it was all right I suppose, yeah it was quite nice, yeah.” - meaning … ruddy fantastic.