Here’s a fun surprise. Reno’s Rotary Club play fast, bouncy, raw punk rock. Between their slamming riffs and sing-songy delivery, the band could fit in with the early Dangerhouse Scene or the arty punk of the classic Sf punk scene. Their debut Lp, Sphere of Service finds the band remarkably honed on doing what they do.
And what they do is comment on the intrusion of modern technology as contrasted to 2020s isolation all to a fun beat. But, there’s the important catch. The music is fun and at times, winkingly self aware, but they always keep a dangerous edge in there somewhere. “Pop-Corn” finds the band spelling the title but its preceded by an almost Cro-Magsian smash. Throughout the release, the band comments on how technology has deeply affected and changed each of us: “I’m sitting pressing the buttons, sweating. I’m wading patiently through each protracted ring. Sound waves are magnified, receiver magnetized – we’re stuck together and I can’t live without convenience attractor.” What do we do when a device has made our lives so much easier… to the point where we can’t live without it and it causes great anxiety?
The band is having a lot of fun painting tales of modern tech horror and it’s a lot of fun to bounce from track to track with them. When Devo commented on these types of things, the horror seemed so far away. Rotary Club is commenting on the horror in which w e live and even acknowledges that no one is doing anything about the tech hell in which we live- in fact we are still embracing it. The band sings about this with a smile, but, how much of that smile is a façade and howe much is gleeful nihilism?