Clorox Girls “Clorox Girls” 2004. Smartguy Records. Punchy, poppy punk; their debut LP. These guys would have been perfect on Dirtnap Records (they didn’t put anything out on that label but were from the Portland area so for sure were in the nexus of that scene): they have a fun, loud, snappy early aught punk/power pop sound and the tracks are super short, like two minutes or less each. According to their Allmusic bio, “guitarist and singer Justin Maurer met drummer Clay Silva while both were both living in a punk rock squat mostly populated by doom-struck crust punks. Tired of the gloomy and abrasive music they were hearing day and night, Justin and Clay decided to form a band that paid homage to their love of poppy old-school punk (they took their name from a tune on Redd Kross’ first EP, when they were still known as Red Cross), first-generation rock & roll, and smart ’60s pop from England and France.” Clorox Girls definitely shows that inspiration, but I do think that most of the songs kind of sound alike so it’s hard to pick a favorite or two. I think “Protect You Girl” might make that cut – it’s got a harder, more punk flavor than most of the other songs, particularly when juxtaposed to the track that precedes it, “Stuck in a Hole,” which is very 60’s mod-pop, and the song after, “End of a Fantasy,” which veers just a teeny bit 60’s psych-pop and is one of the few mid-tempo tracks on the LP. I’m not entirely certain what happened to the Clorox Girls – they put a couple more LP’s in the early to mid-2000’s; their Instagram is waaayyy out of date and basically is selling off old Clorox Girls t’s found in Clay’s basement.

And while it’s not one of my favorite songs on Clorox Girls, they do have a funny video for “Don’t Take Your Life” which films a live show  after which there’s a party and a short-lived zombie apocalypse.