Starting in Canada and picking up members in Surrey and the Isle Of Wight before landing in London's pubs and venues, Jo-Jo And The Teeth come dressed to the nines with a rousing live show and now an engaging, hook-laden debut album 'No More Good News', many months in the making (COVID inevitably didn't help) but ultimately well worth the wait. Mixing arch art-rock, stomping glam-rock, tuneful pop-rock and driving hard-rock, 'No More Good News' has plenty of gutsy vocals (courtesy of Jo-Jo O'Donaghue), fiery guitars (Rylan Woods and Keir Hicks) and loping grooves (Max Battista on bass and Andy Barker on drums) amongst its often joyous sound, life-lived lyrics and ear-worm choruses. Recorded, mixed and mastered by Jason Stafford at The Albion Rooms in Margate (HQ of The Libertines), the album is self-produced and self-financed and is a marvellous testament to the band's perseverance and talent.
'No More Good News' kicks off with the bluesy groove of 'My Babe', sidling in beside you before gradually ratcheting up the tension for some kicking choruses and fiery guitar work. Bluesy touches are in evidence throughout the album, especially in Jo-Jo's vocals and the excellent guitar work of Rylan and Keir, and next track - the title track and previous single - 'No More Good News' has plenty of those touches, with its finely crafted tune and bittersweet lyrics. In a Q&A with BBMATB earlier in the year, Jo-Jo named 'Hellhound' as her favourite track on the album and it's not hard to see why - from its bluesy, jazz-tinged vocal beginning, the song builds into a stomping number, stopping for a couple of intimate vocal break-downs before building back-up into a glorious final crescendo of blazing guitars. After the soaring Queen-like guitars of 'We're Just Animals' and the soulful ballad-like 'Moonchild' and 'Is This The Dream', the album gets its 'pop-smarts' on for the lilting, Southern rock style 'Lungs' and the fabulous 'Don't Get Too Heavy', a fantastic hook-laden tune with a stadium winning chorus ('Dream On Dreamweaver' indeed) and chart-topping potential; the perfect encapsulation of the band's sound so far. 'A Hungry Love' starts a gentle, chugging tune before rising to a blazing ending with an outro that seems to go on forever (in a good way) and album closer 'Oh Brother' fades away into the night, again with a slightly southern, almost countryish feel.
'No More Good News' mixes the glamour with the grunge in its driving rock sound topped with hooks aplenty and crystalline sound, and is engaging, vibrant and bears repeated plays. The bands sparkling, attention-grabbing image allied with 'No More Good News' winning tunes will hopefully move Jo-Jo And The Teeth up from the grass-roots venues they are currently playing and add to their already burgeoning fanbase. 'No More Good News' deserves your love and attention - you get the feeling with Jo-Jo And The Teeth there is much more to come.
'No More Good News' is out on December 2nd on all the major digital sites - pre-save here :- PRE-SAVE link li.sten.to/Pre-Save-No-More-Good-News