Music is both a healer and a projection of an individual’s narrative, sometimes laying out to an audience the brighter and darker sides of someone’s own path that they are currently on. This is exactly the reason behind the conception of Cheap Meat’s long awaited debut LP People Are The Worst which provides some solitude during the dark and gloomy start of 2021. Having not seen a release from the band since their debut EP The Parts That Show in 2016, this was the introduction of their own take on the DIY hook-filled, guitar-heavy pop laden punk and rock hybrid that set the wheels rolling. Adding to an already charged and ardent scene that fans could gorge on the fruits of the labour, of DIY music that had surfaced during that year. Most of the was record written on the backend of the EP during the mind bending sociopolitical unrest; the ongoing Brexit debates, Trump’s distorted reality and the stake driving division in left and right culture even further. It was a dark time in recent history with a first place ribbon for why they named this album what they have, focusing primarily on the theme of misanthrope, the story and DIY. For Ross Drummond (vocals/guitar), Peter Hakola (bass/vocals) and Matt Rebeiro (Drums) the journey has not been a smooth one for the trio, whilst processing the events of the world in recent years. Along with this the band have been dealing with their own personal worlds on top of these other issues; Matt having two kids, Pete being diagnosed with manic depression/bi-polar disorder, and Ross being diagnosed with high-functioning depression and anxiety. The battles and changes are reflected throughout the album, deep rooted in the emotion and the formulation of each track. ‘Love Song Reject’ bursts at the seams with raw emotion and flair, altering and warping whilst exploding with passion. An intro that takes the similar stance of a generic acoustic album outro track, pulling the wool over your eyes as the first notes of the solo hit, altering the DNA of the song, vibrating around your bones sending a shiver up and down your spine with every note that is screamed from the neck of Drummond’s guitar, oozing with what words can only partly express. The plethora of genres spliced together to create their sound has captured the bands mindset’s when producing the album, a healthy dose of light and love on tracks ‘Pretzels and Poptarts’, ‘Lust, and That’s All’ and ‘A Pop of Bubblegum’. Providing an energy in the music that allows the bleak lyrics to intertwine but are then blasted away with mammoth guitar solos, blasting bass lines and steamroller drum rhythms. This album is close to the hearts of the trio who created it and their ability to show the true spirit of DIY, which is a scene that in current times is even more prominent than ever before to build on their sound with no restrictions, produce the album they imagined and released via their own label Jerk Store Records, It’s an album that will appeal to a wide variety of audiences with a perfect plethora of genres all wrapped up and stored in one place, and whilst it’s still evident that the planet is currently harbouring some of the worst specimens to be found within humanity, there’s plenty of crucial love to found in this record. Score: 8/10 People Are The Worst is released January 29th via Jerk Store Records. Purchase the record here.