Tha Retail Simps is one of the most exciting rock’n’roll bands of the past couple of years. Exhibit A: the band’s 2022 debut. Exhibit B: the band’s follow up LP Live On Cool Street, which is out now on Total Punk Records. Describing Tha Retail Simps is rather difficult. You could call them as a punk take on Velvet Underground and you would not be wrong. Tha Retail Simps are so much more than that though. Press play on Live On Cool Street and you’ll come across ferocious punkrock’n’roll, but also guitar solo’s and riffs, Northern Soul as well (listen to Weapon Of The Mystic, which is one of the highlights on the new LP). The exuberant playing of Tha Retail Simps is contagious, and at the center of their sound there is a highly combustible mix of musical influences. Think of the most boring, least inspired band you know and you’ll find Tha Retail Simps at its polar opposite. Live On Cool Street should be required listening for anyone on a bland musical diet. If there is any record that should wake them up and reconnect them with the sheer excitement that music can bring, it will be this one.
