Getdown Services provide more foul-mouthed fun on ‘Don’t Cheese Me Off’
You might think that a band would save their best material for their major releases, but when you’re on as hot of a streak as indie duo Getdown Services happen to be at the moment, there’s no use waiting around for the right opportunity to serve fans with a new slice of the goodness they crave.
‘Don’t Cheese Me Off’ isn’t exactly a new song from the Bristol-based pair, with them having written it at the same time as they put together their two most recent EPs, Your Medal’s In The Post and Primordial Slot Machine, but comes as the main offering from their latest collection of B-sides and demos, Crumbs 2.
Having released a similar compendium of tracks following their debut album, Crisps, which produced one of their biggest tracks in ‘I Got Views’, it’s no surprise that they’ve chosen to drop another selection of tracks that didn’t quite make the cut on a main release.
The thing is, neither Crumbs 2 nor its predecessor really live up to their name, with the material they’re composed of often still reaching the same levels of groove, deadpan humour and self-deprecation as a regular release would. If you’re after a small dose of half-arsed yet endearing disco loops and profane lyricism, then Getdown Services have you sorted on both counts with ‘Don’t Cheese Me Off’.
After a whirlwind 18 months, which has seen Josh Law and Ben Sadler continually touring, stunning festivals with anarchic performances and struggling not to swear on their TV debut, the release to some might feel like a case of them and Breakfast Records choosing to strike while the iron is hot. However, despite them caveating the release of the single and the accompanying eight-track compilation with confirmation that it is only meant to be treated as offcuts, ‘Don’t Cheese Me Off’ is still up there with the band’s best material.
From ridiculing his own image to reenacting childlike discussions of favourite colours, Law’s two-minute diatribe is brimming with the usual glut of potty-mouthed one-liners, but there doesn’t seem to be any cap on the amount of times the band can get away with saying “piss” and “shit” and still have it produce a smirk. One might call it base-level attempts at humour, another might call it irreverent genius.
For all I care, Getdown Services could keep knocking out songs of this ilk and it would still be entertaining, and even if they don’t believe songs like ‘Don’t Cheese Me Off’ to be among their most deserving material, essentially choosing to release it with no preamble or fanfare, it’s still a perfect distillation of why they’ve managed to win over audiences across the country.
In times of dismal world affairs, sometimes we look for hope in the silliest things. Getdown Services are about as silly as it gets.
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