The Saint Alvia Cartel

The Saint Alvia Cartel manage to channel decades of rock music onto their debut album. Combining a roots rock’n’roll feel with a reggae backbeat and filtering it through hardcore sensibilities, the band create an atmosphere of camaraderie and hopefulness that’s evident throughout the disc. The record has a spontaneous, "anything goes” feel to it, as the group easily combine acoustic-driven songs, electronic drum beats, street punk-style sing-alongs and organ playing that wouldn’t seem out of place on Rancid’s Life Won’t Wait or any Clash album. It would be lazy to simply label Saint Alvia an "ex-members of” band, even if members have done stints in Boys Night Out, Jersey, Grade and the Video Dead (an impressive pedigree). However, with a band like this it becomes less about the parts being greater or weaker than the whole and more about the whole being a new beast entirely. This is the perfect soundtrack for the coming summer months and it has the potential to be the background music for any growing adolescent with an interest in good, honest music.