We’re still a good 12 days away from the official start of summer, but we’re already crushing hard on everyone’s second-favorite season. And nowhere is our <3-shaped sentiment illustrated in song quite like Dirty Bangs’ new jam “I’m In Love With The Summertime,” the lead track off today’s Day Living EP.
Brought to you by two of the blokes in the school-night-lovin’ Bodega Girls and booze-poundin’ Thunderbloods, Dirty Bangs features Evan Kenney (Red Yellow) and Steve Lord (Kingsley Flood) and shows off a hazier side of that time-honored rock and roll. “I’m In Love With The Summertime” and seconds track “Guyana” have a nice, chill vibe to them, something in the vein of if Christopher Owens’ Girls was formed on the East Coast of if the Jesus & Mary Chain actually enjoyed nice weather for a change.
But don’t call Dirty Bangs a side project. Or wait, maybe you should.
“Basically, Steve Lord and I have just been making so many songs after all of our other bands went on breaks that we decided to just start this recording duo,” Kenney tells Vanyaland over email. “The subject matter and vibe of the songs are a little more far out than anything we’ve done in a long time, which is a nice release for us. We are just going to keep creating music for people to chill hard too, and we may think about putting a full band together to play these out. After Steve and I finished the EP, we looked at each other and said, ‘Welp, time to get a band I guess.’ Basically, we wanted to make a record that people could drive to with the windows down. We’re happy about it.”
Crank the windows down, turn the radio up, raise that J to the open-air sky.