However instead of rehashing the past, Expendables is a reinvention that sees the band dialing back the distortion and leaning into the melodies. The result pairs their unparalleled pedigree with a pop sensibility that's slightly unexpected and wholly satisfying. "For our last record [2019's FAKE NAMES]the general influences were 70's U.K. punk and power-pop; but it wound up with a little classic rock vibe as well, like the Vibrators meets Aerosmith. We never saw that coming!" , Baker explains.
For Expendables the band enlisted producer Adam "Atom" Greenspan (IDLES, Yeah Yeah Yeahs). Baker explains, "The pop influences are a little more out front on this one and the production really helps it shine. It sounds more direct, more urgent."
Expendables is the latest exchange in a musical conversation that spans four decades. Baker aptly refers to the lineup of FAKE NAMES as a "mutual admiration society" and says that once the five members got in the same room together, it felt as if they had already been in the band together for years.
Side A
1 Targets
2 Expendables
3 Delete Myself
4 Go
5 Don't Blame Yourself
Side B
1 Can't Take It
2 Damage Done
3 Madtown
4 Caught In Between
5 Too Little Too Late