UK garage-punk band Lovvers went to North America earlier this year to record their debut LP with Exploding Hearts/Clorox Girls producer Pat Kearns. They kindly sent us a track to preview on here, so rather than just write, “Wow, aren’t these tracks great?”, we asked their singer Shaun the top ten things they lovved (wayhey!) about the U.S.A. And so he did.

1. Tall Cans (PBR)

Tall cans make you want piss every ten minutes. PBR is dirt cheap and pretty great.

2. In-N-Out Burger

I had a whale of a time at this joint. I like to eat and the people I met in America like to eat too. People told us about all this insane food that’s definitely not good for you, but that’s its charm I guess. We heard about Oki dogs, but I didn’t get a chance to try one – I don’t think I would have been brave enough. They are something like a sausage, wrapped in bacon, deep fried, and covered in processed cheese with some other un-worldly shit thrown on top. Sounds good, yeah?

What I did try was an In-N-Out Burger, and that was a tasty burger. They even have a secret menu which I thought was very novel. You can imagine the types that know about the secret menu. Anyways I had Animal Fries, which were disappointing, and a Double Double, which I enjoyed. Everyone else skipped the meat, which was basically processed cheese in a bun. Nice.

3. Menthol cigarettes

I’m a 20-a-day kind of guy, and I prefer rolling my own. This may kill me, I’m aware of that, but I think the likelihood of me being killed by something else is far higher. Anyways, our guitar player doesn’t smoke, or should I say he didn’t… until he bought these Camel cigarettes, which are standard until you pinch the end and they become menthol. He loved them so much he now goes and buys himself a pack of menthols every Friday. I liked them because you could steal a cigarette, smoke it and then freshen up your breath when you were done. Genius.

4. PayDay

Ate a lot of these.

5. Le Face

We stayed with our friend Marcus in LA. He also sings for this band Le Face and they are the greatest so check them out.

6. The Smell

Yeah I heard about it but I’d never been, and guess what, it was fucking great. Though it actually smells pretty bad.

7. Cocaine

Well, I’m not such a fan of the stuff. The people I meet on this just seem paranoid, fall off house roofs, and generally make an ass out of themselves. I mean, it’s a rock’n'roll cliché. But, every goddamn punk rocker I met in LA was like a fucking vacuum. At our first show the opening band dedicated their whole show to the stuff. Now that’s when you know you’ve got a problem.

8. Drunk drivers

We’ve all had a few drinks and driven home, it’s not clever. But compared to Americans we are fucking saints. Every night there would be guys downing pints, shots, and whatever else, then offering everyone a lift home. Fuck it, I like walking, it’s good for you. At our last show in LA, someone from a well-established band gave me a high far out look when I told him we’d walked or taken the bus to all of our shows so far.

9. Eat Skull

Are from Portland, they have this classic song called “Stick to the Formula”. Scott, their bass player, runs this great little record shop in Portland called Exiled where we bought a lot of records.

10. Kurt Cobain’s nanny

Also worth a mention: fake chewing gum, Blauqe Chris, Part Time Punks, East End bar, Stark Naked Pizza, Pancakes, Sparks and bungalows rather than houses.

SHAUN HENCHER

Below is “AXTXIXTXUXDXE” , taken from their debut LP OCD GO GO GO GIRLS, out on Wichita in August.

Check out the Lovvers blog here.

Lovvers - “Attitude”

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