Pleasure Thru Tears Album Review

Straight out of 80’s and onto your stereo, Penknife Glides are back and bring you their newest release. Pleasure Thru Tears is a collection of songs written by the band between ’81 and ’85 as punk pulled itself to pieces and began its twenty year hibernation.

Pleasure Thru Tears has come (back) at the perfect time. We’ve now reached that time Deja Voodoo sung about all those years ago. A time where the majority of the people frequenting our town’s nightclubs weren’t conceived in the 80’s, and I must admit I was still a twinkle in the swinging proverbials of my father when Penknife Glides first entered the scene. What better time to reacquaint these retrophilic youths with the sound that was New Zealand and show them what they were missing.

I don’t want to start a name all the 80’s bands Penknife Glides make you want to relisten to, so I’ll just throw some random names out there. Pet Shop Boys. Joy Division. Depeche Mode. The Clash. Sex Pistols. Take those bands, and imagine they had the tightness and technical proficiency of Mason Williams’ ‘68 hit Classical Gas and you’ll be imagining the Penknife Glides vibe. Punk performed by people that could actually play their instruments.

Pleasure Thru Tears is out now and available through iTunes, or if you’re lucky enough to live in the only city in the country with a Real Groovy left in it, you’ll find it there.