Review: The Total Bettys – ‘Peach’
Posted: by The Editor
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The Total Bettys are here. Two years after their first EP release the four-piece band have released their debut album Peach. Based in San Francisco, the up and coming queer pop-punk group consist of Maggie Grabmeier and Bri Barett on vocals and guitar, Chris Nolasco on drums and Sami Perez on bass. The packed, nine song album will no doubt have you bopping along down the street, but it also might have you challenging thoughts of why it has you in such a jig mood.
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The album single, “Stay Here All Night” could easily be the most boundlessly danceable and bouncy song on the album, while still surrounding an utterly opposite story being told. The drums seem as though they’re screaming for an all night summer party but contradicting lyrics weep with loneliness. The Total Bettys seemed to have mastered the art of turning subjects such as loneliness, panic attacks, change of environment, self-realization of one’s own strengths, and even quitting your job only to be with the one you love into endless jams that make it hard to resist using your knees as drums. The antithetical combination is unlikely yet undeniably human. The drum rhythm, mastered by Chris Nolasco, takes control of just about every song on Peach including “Stay Here All Night,” “Quit My Job” and “Is It Wrong” with such profound definition and buoyancy that is such a refreshing feeling for the pop-punk genre.
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Peach appears to not be too outside of their EP Connect with the Couch that was released 2015. The most notable song to date off the first release is “No Kings” which could easily be the bands proud queer anthem with lyrics like “We could be each others queens and we never need to meet no kings.” The band doesn’t derive far from the young adult topics of love, social obstacles and self-reliance.
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The Total Bettys seem to be assembling their own space within the punk community and are definitely ones to watch for this summer. Peach has a fervent glow about it that is unmistakable with every track and paves the path budding future for the group.
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Score: 8/10
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– Riley DeSantis
