SINGLE REVIEW: TUBE AMP’D – Put Away Your Phone
After countless live recordings fizzing with adrenaline and distortion, TUBE AMP’D have finally dragged their sweaty, snarling sound into the studio. The result? ‘Put Away Your Phone’ still feels like it could kick a speaker in.
Mercifully, nothing’s been smoothed over in translation. It’s still the same chaotic, crash-happy punk rock riot, just with the benefit of slightly tighter production — enough to make the guitars punch harder and the drums bite sharper, but not so much that it loses the band’s scrappy charm. The vocals are still as raw and ragged as ever, all sneers and shout-along swagger, with rugged harmonies thrown in for good measure. And that solo? Unashamedly intricate. It cuts through the noise like a slingshot aimed straight at the pit.
The premise still rules: a girl’s just trying to have a chat at a gig, but some guy’s too glued to his phone to notice. It’s funny, frustrating, and fiercely familiar — the kind of modern-day nuisance that punk was built to sneer at. The band leans into it with everything they’ve got, making every crash of cymbal and scrape of string feel like a middle finger to digital detachment.
Where most studio debuts end up sounding like sanitised versions of the real thing, ‘Put Away Your Phone’ does the exact opposite. It captures the sweat, the edge, the elbow-in-your-ribs urgency of a packed basement show and bottles it without losing a drop. TUBE AMP’D aren’t here to polish — they’re here to pummel. And this is them doing it at full volume.
