New Music: Fight For Yourself by Zex
Photo by Darryl Reid
Ottawa’s hottest new punk rock bad, ZEX, is finally done teasing us with singles and released their debut album Fight for Yourself.
The album starts off swinging with the title track, “Fight for Yourself.” ZEX has a very late 70s/early 80s punk rock feel to them. There is certainly beauty in the simplicity and energy. The band is led by the fiery, and not always fully clothed, Gretchen Steel on vocals. It’s very cool to see a woman fronting a band of this sort, as many of the bands from the 70s-80s era they are surely influenced by were male centric. Steel has the perfect voice and spunk for what Zex is doing, not to mention she is not the only woman in the band – drummer Tasha holds down the beat. Rounding out the band are Jo Capitalicide on guitar and Gab Sex on bass.
The album has some really good sing along songs like “We’re Rebels,” and “XXX” for example. But the Fight for Yourself is not all fun and sing alongs. The album is chalk full of punk rock, fun-loving, self-empowering and “fuck the status quo” style anthems. The song that really stands out is the first single “Savage City.” This rocking track tells the tale of how quickly a boring city night can become quick hectic and violent, and also makes the band seem so bad ass. The video for the track is pretty awesome.
The 10-song album is a great first step for the band, and I can not wait to continue to follow their growth as they kick ass and take names, having already done Canadian and American tours and played a show on a boat. The only thing wrong with this album is it only lasts about 30 minutes and leaves you wanting more… thankfully someone invented the repeat button.
Fight for Yourself was recorded by local legend Paul ‘Yogi’ Granger and is currently only available digitally. The album will soon be released on vinyl by Capitalicide and Uncle D Records and on tape by four labels, Runstate (North America), Voice From The Inside (Europe), Rotten Leather (South America) and Basement (Asia). In the meantime, listen to the album streaming below and discover ZEX for yourself.