Fidlar: Fidlar – review

Their name derives from a skater acronym – fuck it dog, life's a risk. It's ample warning of the low-rent surf-pop-punk hedonism contained on this LA foursome's debut. Imagine the Vaccines' Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra) relocated to a graffitied half-pipe and dusted liberally with whatever the Ramones were having. Cheap Beer rails with inverse snobbery against LA denizens drinking posh IPA, while Wake Bake Skate describes a lifestyle that's entering its fourth decade. Half the band are punk offspring (their dad was in punk metallers TSOL), while the main singer got kicked out of Hawaii for a hit-and-run. And yet their songs are surprisingly melodic; sweet, even – well, with the possible exception of Whore.