Ant Farm- Ant Farm (Bivouac Records): The Listen

Suddenly that joke about the band being time travelers doesn't seem like a joke anymore. Ant Farm absolutely sounds like a lost 1980s indie rock record, and a very good one at that. This record didn't totally pass the '90s by, but it came damn close. Opener Straight Answer's vocals and songwriting are pure Big Dipper/early R.E.M., including some sweet harmonies on the chorus, but it is a little slower than it might've been ten years prior and you can hear the grunge influence in the light distortion on the guitars and plodding rhythm section with heavy snare hits. That's it though. Not just for Straight Answer, but for the entire album. I particularly noted that I'd've believed you wholeheartedly if you told me Take It Easy was off some 1985 wax platter on I.R.S. That said, even the relatively narrow descriptor of melodic 1980s indie rock covers a decent amount of ground, plus I should explain why I found this a cut above so many of its fellows, so let's get more detailed.

First of all, the songwriting's nice and varied. Scariest of Monsters is downbeat and uneasy, He Who Has Not--which is indeed an incel character sketch and not an endorsement--matches its subject with a menacing tone and biting guitar, Burn's got that '50s guitar arpeggio thing but also has shades of ska in the way of, once again, '80s indie, and other tracks are straight ahead power pop.

Ant Farm's biggest distinguishing feature though, one that would set them apart from their peers in any decade, is the structure of the group's arrangements. Rob DeFriese is an excellent bassist and the heart of the band's sound is his interaction with guitarist John Chavez. It's locked in, effective, and unique, especially for melodic rock. I've never heard anyone play this style of music with that active and roaming a bass before, and it works brilliantly.

I initially made the mistake of fingering drummer Dan Feldman as the weak link for his basic af timekeeping, which felt especially unimpressive in comparison to his bandmates' highly creative playing. However, I came to realize that he was actually choosing to play very simply so as not to crowd out DeFriese and Chavez, keeping the songs going while they did the thing that made Ant Farm what it was. And when the occasion called for it, he did throw in some fills, albeit still simple ones. A generous musician who served the song and the band over himself all the way.

So I've found myself a great band, did anyone else? Discogs has the band but not the album; the only item in their discography on the site is a comp of local Arizona bands who recorded at Red Mountain Studios. Ooh, further searching shows they're still around! Or rather they're around again; their Bandcamp page says they recently got back together. Put out a new album in 2020, I'll have to give it a listen. They're on Facebook, too. In a couple places, for some reason. The new album's on Spotify but this one isn't, and I don't know why. Can't find Bivouac Records on the Net and I doubt they still exist, but maybe someone involved with the label still owns the rights?