“I spent two years locked up in my room,” explained Martian Warlords singer/Flying-V-wielder Micah Omega while dragging his amps off the Kick Butt Coffee stage after a typically fiery set. “I wrote 700 songs in that time.” If they’re all as catchy and propulsive as the nine originals cramming this debut, why did the locals bother covering Jonathan Richman’s admittedly great “She Cracked”? Perhaps because as the frontman sings on “Bored,” “I get so bored listening to all this shitty music!” The presence of ex-Rockbuster Grant Dorian behind the kit might have led to something more metallic, but with the guitars both bombastic and intricate, and vocals straddling the fence between the raw and the fey, the Martian Warlords never vary from mononucleosis-catchy punk. There’s humor and hooks galore to go with all the propulsion and aggression. Shut-in music, Area 69 gets results.
This article appears in January 3 • 2020.
