“I’ve been an avid diarist / Since 1991 / But nothing’s ever worth / writing down,” The Bug Club’s Sam Willmett sings with a well-practiced sarcasm on their Sub Pop debut, The Intricate Inner Workings Of The System, an indie, punkish collection of songs that are anything but boring or not worth writing down. They sing about “Quality Pints” with the charm of a UK band like the Buzzcocks, setting the stage for a band who likes to play live shows as much as they like to record charming records. They give a list of humorous ways that everybody feels “A Bit Like James Bond”: “I collect Hornbys and commemorative stamps,” “I’m gluten intolerant,” “I buy duty free cigarettes in bulk.” “And there’s something James Bond about that.” There is even a song called “Pop Single,” (“We’ll write a pop single / That everyone knows,”) that is not really the most catchy song on their record, but it’s a romp, nonetheless.

They have been getting a good deal of attention over the last couple years, in fact, with EPs and LPs that are allowing them to sell out shows in the UK and beyond. They started as a blues’ band, with Sam’s brother Ross in college, and the songs almost feel like an excuse for a well-executed blues solo on a number of songs. But it is not the blues anymore, but decidedly indie rock, something that recalls for me such humorous and super talented acts as Dry Cleaning and Cheekface. They only really get semi-serious on their title track, which closes the record in one minute and 39 seconds.

“It’s bigger than you/ So shut your bloody mouth / About the system! / The bloody system / The intricate inner workings of the system.” With their witty rock n’ roll, they manage to buck the system and make you laugh and dance and distract you and sharpen your mind, all things that are probably good for fighting the system, anyway. On one of their songs, where they quote inane conversational topics they sing, “We don’t care about that / We don’t care about that / We don’t care about that..” “Stop talking / Shut up!”

You won’t want them to shut up, but to perhaps go on for another thirty minutes longer than the thirty minutes of pure joy and humor that they offer. “Blah blah blah blah / something about books!” They make fun of most anyone: themselves, squares, optimists, lovers, and the list goes on. “Cause you can’t get better than good,” they sing on the song of the same name, matter-of-factly. And really this is music that is definitively good. Good for a laugh, good for a dance, good for a “quality pint.” I really enjoyed this album and if you like indie rock that is filled with quips and perfect one-liners sung with punkish charm, you might really like this band and album, fittingly put out on America’s Sub Pop records. Not a small feat for a two person band from Caldicot, Monmouthshire. I will be enjoying this record for a while, and looking into more from their direction.

Order On The Intricate Inner Workings of the System by The Bug Club HERE