Look! There goes Dave Strong following the footsteps of his The Guts buddy Geoff Palmer, finally releasing his first solo full length. The self-titled debut marks the unexpected yet inevitable emergence of Strong as a solo artist, which began with the killer Little Girl single two years ago. The single was followed by several others, and all of these singles are now brought together and released on LP (through Phameless Records), and CD and Tape through This Is Just A Record Label. Of course, you could apply the understated matter-of-fact name of the label also to Strong’s debut. It’s just a record. But if you’ve been following Strong on social media, you’ll find that this record means much more to Strong, an underdog artist who had to overcome several personal battles to get to this point.
The self-titled record documents Strong finding a style of his own. The cover songs on the record are a good indicator of that style, from pop punk to good old rock’n’roll. Strong opens the album with a rendition of Katie is a Chainsmoker – one of two The Guts’ songs included on the record that Dave wrote back in the day for the band (Still Thinkin’ About You is the other). Strong also covers a Ramones song and an Eddie Cochran classic. With his original songs, Strong presents himself as pop punk kid at heart with a fondness of oldies but goodies rock-‘n’-roll, and rockabilly as well. Those styles match well together and the songs on his solo debut are instantly likeable. Keep doing your thing Dave, we’ll be listening!
Awesome