Hookworms

Faux Discx and Gringo Records are psyched (no pun intended) to announce the debut vinyl release of Leeds' Hookworms. The Hookworms 12" features 4 songs, clocks in at around 27 minutes, and is limited to 1000 copies on 180g black vinyl. The release was previously only available on tape via Sun Araw's Sun Ark label and that sold out in a matter of weeks. Hookworms formed in late 2009 at a time when most of the group’s members were also playing together in a snappy punk group.

The punk and garage background is important, because it has a lot to do with the energy that makes Hookworms so noticeable. Many groups think they can make good on psych-rock by just wigging out to their own ends, during interminable jam sessions that only come to a halt when someone decides “That’s long enough.” Most of Hookworms’ songs are around the six minute mark, which isn’t long at all, and each one is constantly doing something.

The singer and keyboard player delivers his vocals like The Gun Club’s Jeffery Lee Pierce on Fire of Love - frantic and impassioned. The guitars colour in and around the lines, informed just as much by Flipper’s Ted Falconi as ‘Sister Ray’. Bass grooves lead the way, sage in their wisdom over which path to take. This is tidy stuff, a purposeful and fully conscious journey into the realms of Zoss. It’s also a journey taking place on increasingly large stages, where they’re just as confident at filling the sonic space as at the small venues where they started out.

“Hookworms fling themselves headlong into classic 80’s/90’s psych-rock like they’re trying to break something. Hailing from Leeds and cramming themselves giddily within the well established formal properties of the genre, they walk the scorched road behind Loop, Spectrum, and any other titan of two-chord songs who’s ever slowly wah-ed a chord until they saw colors. Most excellent burners!” Cameron Stallones, Sun Ark / Sun Araw