Paper Champ are a 4-piece skate punk band from Ipswich, Suffolk. Following a successful Kickstarter campaign to finish off the recording, they’ll be releasing their first 5-track EP Easily L.E.D. this week.
Formed from the ashes of Ipswich melodic punks The 4130s, they put out their first demo in October 2016, featuring additional vocals from Goober Patrol’s Simon Sandall and Dan Goatham of Spoilers/7 Day Conspiracy. Easily L.E.D. is a mellower follow-up, although it’s still got a fresh, rough-around-the-edges feel.
- Paper Champ live at The Smokehouse in Ipswich (26/07/2017)
The recording is a great reflection of their energetic live shows. Songs like Way Over The Line hit a more pop-punk vibe, not dissimilar to No Use For A Name or even Sum 41 in terms of melody. Stories From Around Campfires has great melodic bass intro, reminiscent of 88 Fingers Louie’s 100 Proof.
Overall, Easily L.E.D. has all the hallmarks of traditional UK skate punk, taking cues from Vanilla Pod, Goober Patrol and Consumed. The record flows through solid conventional song writing, and hits hard on nostalgia value – it wouldn’t be out of place on an old school Burning Heart sampler.
Paper Champ’s guitarist/vocalist, Ben Wiles, says, “We knew we had to make the best EP we could, and I think we’ve done that. It’s the first release for me personally that I love, and I hope everyone likes it as much as I do.”
The EP is out now on Back From The Dead Records / Dirty Sushi Records. Hard copies will be available next week, but it’s available to download now from their Bandcamp page. Careful though, they’ve got two! Did someone forget their Bandcamp login details, boys?
Easily L.E.D. is available from here: https://paperchampippo.bandcamp.com/
Their demo from last year can be downloaded here: https://paperchamp.bandcamp.com/
You can also check them out on Facebook. Thanks very much to Jodie from Burnt Out Media for the live photo.
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