G is for Guerilla Poubelle

Amor Fati

Guerilla Asso, 2013

Fast paced, gruff vocals, and catchy as hell pop punk is a worldwide phenomenon. There are a lot of great bands playing this kind of music, and too often the international bands tend to get overlooked in favor of the bands playing down the street. This is not to disparage the local bands, and by all means, please go support your local bands, but since there are bands playing in Europe, or Asia, or Australia that rarely make it over here to play live, we tend to either not be aware of or pay the attention to some of these bands that they deserve. Guerilla Poubelle fall into that category. These Parisians put out their first record in 2005, but I had never heard of them until 2014, when I saw them play with Arms Aloft. Using borrowed gear, since the U.S. customs wouldn’t let them bring anything into the country, Guerilla Poubelle played a fast, tight, catchy set, of gruff pop punk (orgcore if you recognize that as a genre) and definitely left their mark as a band I needed to check out.

Guerilla Poubelle sing entirely in French, but you don’t have to understand a word of the language to enjoy it. And you still will want to try to sing along. It’s got all those great ‘woahs,’ in songs like “Caracassone” and “Les Rats Quittent Le Navire,” which are the same in every language. And songs like “Marx et l’Histoire” and “Nuelle Part C’est Chez Moi” are catchy enough that you’ll try to stumble through the words to sing along regardless.

The band is staunchly DIY, forming their own label to release their records. If they were American, they’d totally fit as a Red Scare band. Despite their strict DIY ethos, and judging from the live video below, they must be relatively huge in France. And they do an awesome cover of Choking Victim’s “500 Channels.” Or should I say “500 Chaines,” because it’s in French.

Amor Fati is available on Bandcamp for a name your price, so be sure to give it a listen and if you dig it throw some money Guerilla Poubelle’s way.