Review / 200 Words Or Less
The Bobby Lees
Bellevue

Ipecac (2022) Kevin Fitzpatrick

The Bobby Lees – Bellevue cover artwork
The Bobby Lees – Bellevue — Ipecac, 2022

Every once in a long while a band comes along that’s a true pleasure to discover. A sonic kick in the ass for these weary old bones. The Bobby Lees are just such a band.

The release of the Hollywood Junkyard e.p. earlier this year pricked up a lot of ears and served up a mean prelude to the new album Bellevue. Like a DNA splicing of Stiv Bators and Exene Cervenka, vocalist Sam Quartin growls, groans and grooves her way through Bellevue’s 13 savage numbers with nary a sleeper in the deck.

Those of you that remember the garage-rock resurgence of the late 90s with bands like Murder City Devils and Zen Guerrilla will find this album like a welcome visit from an old friend with songs like "In Low" and "Ma Likes To Drink" kicking those garage doors right off the tracks - summoning (we can only hope) a new rock resurgence to fill the deep, dark, soulless void of modern music.

The Bobby Lees – Bellevue cover artwork
The Bobby Lees – Bellevue — Ipecac, 2022

Related news

The Bobby Lees cover PJ Harvey

Posted in Bands on April 23, 2026

Epitaph and The Bobby Lees

Posted in Labels on October 8, 2025

The Bobby Lees tour plans

Posted in Tours on January 30, 2023

Recently-posted album reviews

The Flyboys

Complete Flyboys 1979-1980
Frontiers Records (2026)

The archival hunt for the "missing links" of first-wave California punk usually leads through a trail of grainy handbill Xeroxes and tape traders' overdubbed copies. But with The Flyboys, the story has always been a bit more elegant—and a lot more colourful. Long before they were swept into the gravity of the Hollywood scene, frontman John Curry was already performing … Read more

Ultrabomb

The Bridges That We Burn
DC-Jam Records, Virgin (2026)

Ultrabomb just detonated. The Bridges That We Burn isn't some polite "heritage act" victory lap. It smells like a hand-rolled cigarette lit with a blowtorch in a damp Minneapolis alleyway. No reunion uranium glow here—just three lifers who’ve spent their lives in vans and aren’t interested in anything but the friction prediction. The DNA is legendary, but they aren’t coasting … Read more

Sweat

Tear it on Down
Vitriol (2026)

Tear It On Down is the third record from Sweat and it picks up where the last two left off. It's aggressive hardcore punk, but with a playful groove or swagger that really makes it feel uplifting, even when the content is not. Case in point: "Surveillance State," which rolls kind of like a call-and-response song, except that lead vocalist … Read more