Nothing to Do is living proof that boredom can be a good thing. Not too long ago in a land down under, two young Aussie chaps found themselves terribly unemployed with nothing to do. To pass the time, they decided to pick up the guitar and drums together. After a few moments jamming out in a garage somewhere in Australia’s Gold Coast, Bleeding Knees Club was born. Alex Wall multi-tasks on the drums while producing a whiny voice that is somewhere between a Joey Ramone sound infused with a little Aussie charm. Adding to that, Jordan Malane strums along on his guitar shredding out a familiar juvenile rock sound that parents just can’t stand. This young duo has spread like wildfire throughout the coasts of Australia and is slowly infiltrating the international music scene.

Dev Hynes did a brilliant job of producing the Bleeding Knees Club record. While he fully captures the essence of the band’s doo-wop meets skate punk sound, he is able to produce a sound that takes me back to the days when I used to watch my favorite bands play at the dingy old warehouse that was our local skate park, which is partially why I can’t leave this band alone. I just wanna whore this record out to everyone I know because it captures a certain aspect of my punk rock soul that I will always identify with.

Because the group generally performs as a duo, Hyne wanted to create a fuller sound for the record. With the addition of a bass track and backing vocals (which features cats from The Vivian Girls and The Like), this wise modification to the Bleeding Knees Club sound puts a little frosting on the cake. A little feminine touch goes a long way on Nothing to Do, especially since the vintage sound of tracks like “Lipstick” beg for it.

You may notice that many of the tunes off the record just barely scratch the three-minute mark. Since they wanted a live sound on the album, the gang recorded all the tracks live giving each song three plays through before moving onto the next. This short and sweet approach to their music is simply a reflection of the nature of young chaps: they like to get shit done and not dwell on it later. So, when you finally do pop this baby onto your iPod and press play, you feel like you’re actually sitting in on the session.

Having heard “Let It Go” several times while writing this review, I’ve been slowly digging out old gems that I would listen to years ago like The Boys and The Buzzcocks–good ol’ British punk rock tunes that got me through my high school years. This is definitely an album that will set the tune for the upcoming summer season. My only complaint about these guys for now is that they’re still in the land down under, but I’m quite confident that this shall soon pass.