The Clockworks - “Throw It All Away”

SXSW 2022 - OEB Score: 8; Popularity Index: 5

Pairs Well With…Black Country, New Road, Shame, Sleaford Mods

Part post-punk and part power-pop, The Clockworks are concurrently jagged and catchy across their early singles, powerful, driving songs bubbling with alt-rock intensity. The Irish quartet maintains a quick pace in their music, observational more than incessant and steeped in classic punk rock forms. There’s new-wave and grunge-pop influence here too - for a band with a grimy, garage-rock presence, there’s care put into the riffs and rhythms of The Clockworks’ music that shows in the strength of their introductory offerings. There’s working-class, politically minded punch in The Clockworks’ lyricism as well, a tone that matches the DIY vibes that they hit so well. While there are jangly twists to The Clockworks’ guitar and vocal melodies, the band doesn’t let experimentation take their sound too far away from the visceral energy they naturally emit. Check out the The Clockworks towards the end of SXSW, showcasing at midnight Saturday night at The Green Jay before The Wood Burning Savages. (Kevin McStravick)