They also played their single “Give My Regards to the Dancing Girls,” the 60’s style garagey “Looking for Porno?” which weirdly is a total ear worm (I woke up with it playing in my head this morning), the anthemic “Dry Cider,” the rager “Full Dollar,” and “Haunted Neighborhood” plus a slew of other hard pub rockers.

Their bio from their Bandcamp: “When Irish-born Count Vaseline/The Mighty Stef songwriter Stef Murphy met Stiff Little Fingers guitar tech Jamie Mechan in Nashville, Tennessee, it began a musical partnership of the highest order. After cranking out a few tunes at Mechan’s fledgling studio, 302 Sound, the duo started recruiting other musicians. The band was rounded out by drummer Ryan Sweeney (Cheap Time) and Eli Steele (Sweet Knives.) Dubbing themselves The Sleeveens, an Irish term for a trixter, the band got to work. After recording and releasing their highly-touted “Give My Regards To The Dancing Girls” 45rpm single on Sweeney’s Sweet Time Records, they finished off their 11 track debut LP. The quartet were soon approached by longrunning punk label Dirtnap Records (Marked Men, Exploding Hearts) for the album’s 2024 release. The resulting LP is an homage to the kind of classic punk Chiswick, New Rose and Stiff Records were releasing 45 years before The Sleeveens existed. With earworm melodies and screaming guitars, the foursome have crafted one of the best albums of the year. Murphy’s penchant for charmingly brilliant, matter-of-fact lyricism has a similar poetic quality as Mark E. Smith or Jonathan Richman. With expert mastering by Jim Diamond (The White Stripes, The Dirtbombs) to put the finishing touches on the sound, The Sleeveens is a record that is simultaneously uncompromisingly raw and thoughtfully crafted.”

I got a chance to chat with Ryan Sweeney and James Mechan before the show – both super-nice guys! – mostly about touring the Midwest in February (them – “Milwaukee is cold!”) and Nashville (me – “there’s a great yoga studio there!”) (all of us – “the gangs of bachelorettes are the worst!”). We nabbed a couple of t-shirts and stuffed some bills in the pitcher passed around by the green mohawked owner(?)/bartender: Last Rites doesn’t sell tickets or collect at the door (at least not for this show). I hope The Sleeveens had a great time in Milwaukee and come back again soon – they totally rock!

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