Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard is back in our spotlight with their first release of 2023, in the form of the exciting and powerful single Chew. Will this release be an insight into what we should expect from the band this year?

The Welsh indie scene seems to have been working overtime in the past few years, bringing us bands that we love, such as The Bug Club and Bandicoot. Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard absolutely falls into this category. Entering the scene with a particularly filthy, 70s-esque T-Rex sound, the band quickly formed a loyal fanbase. With singles such as Hollywood Actors and John Lennon is My Jesus Christ, the band could have easily settled into their style. But that is not what Buzzard does. When their debut album, Backhand Deals, was released last year, the band changed their sound up to a much cleaner version of their throwback rock sound, ridding themselves of their dirty 70s rock shackles – now for another new year, should we expect another new direction from Buzzard?

Even from the start of this track, you can tell Chew is the new chapter for the band’s musical journey. Coming in noticeably heavier than any other release – heavier guitar work, heavier vocals, a bigger focus on percussions; the lot – and it is wonderful. Frontman Tom Rees accredits the change in sound to an obsession with The White Stripes and Black Sabbath in his teenage years. It’s really telling too – with the tempo of the song, those guitar licks, and the solo later in the song (props to Zac White on his guitar work in this song, he’s done a delightful job here), you can tell how much of an influence these two bands have had not just to Tom Rees himself, but to the entire band in making this single.

A question that has to be asked is what ferocious beast is Chew on about? With lyrics like “Save your tears cause she smells fear and you’ve got bones she can chew” we must be expecting something terrifying, right? For that answer, we turn to Rees, as it is actually his beloved dog Norma. On the track, he said “I always wanted to write a song for my dog Norma but could never really get it right, it was always a little weird doing a love song to an animal. Instead, I wrote a song about how empowered and inspired I feel when people see Norma and cross the street, pull their children close to them, or open their eyes wide and skip a little to one side. I love that people find her terrifying, she’s so sweet it’s just super funny.”

Overall Chew is a really great track and is perhaps a milestone for the band in terms of their ever-developing sound – it’ll certainly be exciting to see where they go from here.

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