NGL017, Limited copies available

The Eagle Boys were a foursome who had gathered from all corners of the globe (including two or three from Western Australia) to play a type of rock based music vaguely reminiscent of 76'ers like Wire, the Saints and X. They were based in London and played a handful of shows to few. Fans of modern Australian imports like Bits of Shit or Eddy Current Suppression Ring might find something to like here. Named for a notoriously bland national pizza chain (“tinned bomb shelter vegetables, powdered-dust bases, Carlingroyals20innitcheesesemenscrape, OAP skin-fold oil and frozen pie meat”), the Eagle Boys were and remain a truly great band that went well under the radar in their short tenure, and this EP-mastered by Iron Maiden's recording engineer- serves as a reminder that if you ain't heard of it, it must be good. (Brendon Annesley/Negative Guest List)

London-based band of Australian travelers that barely existed from what NGL HQ tell us, but who had the good sense to both name themselves after a bad Aussie pizza-chain and record these tracks on someones broken tape machine before packing it in. "Kambalda" is a jittery punk number about starting brush fires in the Oz countryside that presents some Wire-like tenison as played by drunken louts sipping the meths. Actually, the drummer sounds pretty sober and great. B-Side has two shorter and punker broadsides which do remind me of a younger sounding Bits of Shit. Sleeve and label present different titles for the tracks which is always makes for fun. A-Side is a real treat, but the flipside shows some deceptive catchiness on repeats. (RK - Terminal Boredom)

Punk and requisite after-effects from a group of Australian ex-pats living in London. The band appears to be out of commission at this point, which is a shame as this is one of the better offerings I’ve come across in a while. They drive pretty hard, mimicking ’76 punk but coming out somewhere between the surf-borne tension of Agent Orange and the default aggression of a nth-gen competitor like Hot Snakes. This works on the first track “Kambalda,” the best one here, while the others take on a more simplistic punk-rock tack (chords, some jangle, some energy). Recorded in the raw, so as not to give away their hand. Eagle Boys take their name from a discount pizza chain in Australia, so I’m eager to find the American band who picks up this mantle, and names their band CiCi’s, or maybe Sir Pizza. Cool grab. Sleeve and label have different song titles for the two B-side tracks. (Doug Mosurock/Still Single)

Judging from the sub-Bulb Records artwork here (the time needed to brainstorm, design, create and print the artwork could’ve easily clocked in under five minutes, depending on the sharpness of the pencil at hand), I was expecting some sort of Prehensile Monkey-Tailed Skink-ish garage nonsense, but Eagle Boys are instead a fully-functional rock band with actual songs. “Kambalda” is the only song whose title on the sleeve matches the center sticker, and it’s a pretty good rocker… kind of has a Bloodstains Across Europe vibe in its dour riffing, but still with an Australian Black Lips delivery, if that makes any sense at all. Same deal for the two songs on the flip, who go by dramatically different titles depending on what you’re looking at (not sure how “Armadale Dance” could be a misspelling of “D.I.Y. Apocalypse” – maybe you can just pick your favorite), but I guess if they don’t think it’s that important, why should I. Decent enough single, and one that falls somewhere in the middle of the Negative Guest List pack, which is to say that if I have the mental capacity to recall the Eagle Boys’ existence in September of 2012, I really have no excuse for forgetting my dad’s birthday again this year. (Yellow Green Red)