Drakulas “Raw Wave” 2016. Dirtnap Records. Weird, wild supergroup (of sorts) punk from Texas with members from Riverboat Gamblers plus one (guitarist Zach Blair) who was in Rise Against and Gwar (and some other bands). We caught Drakulas at Dirtnap Fest over Labor Day weekend and they were awesome and fucking hilarious. DRAKULAS! (if you were there, you literally heard that in your head while reading that and will proceed to randomly just shout it, probably at inopportune moments). Singer Mike Wiebe is certifiably insane in the very very best of ways – unbelievably entertaining, high energy and utterly unique. Backed by other Riverboat Gamblers (bassist Rob Marchant and drummer Sam Keir) + guitarist Blair, the band provides a hard-driving, upbeat Dirtnap-punk sound, playing straightmen to Wiebe’s antics (the lighting was on-brand red for the show but makes for horrible pictures so here’s the best I could for a show photo).

Raw Wave was the band’s debut album – and only Dirtnap release (they have another LP from 2020 on Dine Alone Records). It’s fun, punchy punk, super-catchy and at times dancing on the edge of pop punk, but it’s too weird (and the rhythm too hard) to really make that full commitment. My top tracks are the rapid-fire album opener “I’m Getting Out,” the 80’s dark-wave tinged “Beta Max,” the quirky jerky lightning fast “Headphones,” “Venus Retreat” and “VHS” (which they released as a 12″ ‘loaded’ single in 2017 on Stiff Hombre Records). I’m not sure that they will regroup anytime again soon but damn they were a good time.