Album Review: The Demon Demos

Back in 2008, KFC did this Sounds from your Hometown competition. A little national battle-of-the-bands type of affair. A competition I’d forgotten existed, or that I had even entered it, until today.

I thought, since I worked at KFC at the time, that I’d be a shoe-in, despite not actually being in a band. I’d been “playing” guitar since like 2005, and by playing I mean making atonal noises, barely stringing two power chords together.

Dunning-Kruger effect in full force, and ignoring any fine print excluding KFC employees, I figured I’d pretend to be a band, and figure the rest out if I got in. I didn’t get in, thankfully, but I did get my first review from Steff-Metal, who is now known as bestselling, award-winning author Steffanie Holmes.

It’s the kind of confidence boost I needed to see me through the next 16 years making noises no one listens to, and saw me fall into this whole reviewing thing.

And in this 16 years or so of doing this whole reviewing thing, this is probably the first time I’ve received a demo for review. Some unironically bogan and amateur recordings, sure. But never something that was meant to be polished or radio-worthy.

It makes The Demon Demos from Band of Demons kind of a novelty. Even more so, knowing Band of Demons were finalists in the ‘Sounds From Your Hometown’ competition that got me here today.

While I’ve never found anyone that shares the sentiment, I’ve always been a fan of the whole demo-scene, personally. Nirvana’s With the Lights Out really opened my eyes to this hidden world of foetal songs. It was a glimpse behind the curtains of studio interference, to see the skeletons, the alternate sections and lyrics that could have been. Unpolished. Closer to the artists.

So, despite being the opposite of clean and polished, I don’t really have an issue with the demo quality of The Demon Demos. There’s nothing wrong with a cellphone or single mic recording, if I can still hear what’s going on and don’t have to crank the volume to hear past the tape hiss or digital snow. I can look past the squashed, or sometimes absent drums, or tracks seemingly just ending with no real resolution. The lack of mixing or mastering. That stuff’s just a ribbon on the box, not the present itself.

The Demon Demos has good bones, in real estate terms. It’s got catchy riffs, sometimes with familiar hints of famous influences (perhaps from Dom’s time in Auckland-based cover band CÖVER ÜP), and skilled licks, the latter being really showcased in second track Found, and the demo’s ending jam Dog At The End.

Despite the heavy metal sounding name, the demos cover a range of different genres. Sure, sometimes the tracks are sludgy old school metal or more bluesy rock, like penultimate track Rockin, but other times they’re closer to ballads, like the country-tinged Waingaro Girl. There’s one track that’s even at both ends of that spectrum; the acoustic and electric versions of Well Was Dry are completely different experiences and Morrison’s vocal range seems to handle both.

While demos are usually used as a showcase, to sell a band to a label, The Demon Demos more sells Morrison’s ability as a guitarist and songwriter. We can’t know Morrison’s intentions with these demos – whether they’re for fun, or from some deep desire to always be making music – it’s possible one day we may hear finished versions of these 9 songs. Perhaps then they will hold more interest to a wider audience, as an interesting comparison to where the track began. Until then however, they may only hold a special interest to the niche groups that appreciate demos, like myself.

You can find Band of Demons everywhere. Except Bandcamp, it seems, which is criminal, considering Bandcamp Fridays see the money from sales go directly to the artists. Unlike other mainstream platforms I refuse to name.