Some 15 years ago now, Australian rock band “The Poor” blasted onto the scene with their rock anthem “More Wine Waiter Please”.  A Top 10 hit in Australia, follow up single “Poison” was also a massive hit, catapulting the bands debut album “Who Cares” into the Top 10 of the album chart.  At a time when grunge had swept the cupboards bare of more traditional “hard rock” The Poor’s brand of raw blues based hard rock found themselves making waves on rock radio in the USA.  Two years of solid touring around the USA, Australia, Japan and Europe had the band supporting the likes of The Angels, AC/DC, KISS, The Scorpions, Alice In Chains & Van Halen.  What followed was a couple of EP’s/singles, but by the end of the 90’s the band had all but disappeared. 

In 2008 the band re-emerged and supported legendary metal band WASP on their Australian tour.  Obviously inspired by these shows, the band return in 2009 with a brand new release titled “Round 1”, a collection of seven brand new tracks, as well some previously unreleased/demo songs.  For those familiar with The Poor, on “Round 1” you will be pleased to know that not much has changed.  The Poor still sound like The Poor and that’s a fact!!

Opening track ‘Kill My Faith’ features those familiar bass heavy stomping guitar riffs and the trademark growl from vocalist Skenie.  The production is very raw which is a theme that continues throughout the album, but afterall, that is what The Poor is all about!  ‘Death Of Me’ draws in a bit of a modern influence and even reminds at times of someone like Buckcherry, probably my favourite track on the album.  ‘Last Laugh’ sees the band starting to infuse a bit more of the hooks for which they captured throughout that killer debut album ‘Who Cares’ and the cool slide guitar riff and chorus vocals are particularly infectious.  ‘No Ones Home’ draws on more of a blues influence, however lacks the spark of the opening few tracks.  But that can’t be said for ‘Prisoner Of Fools’ which has energy in bundles!  The most aggressive and heaviest of the new tracks, it shows that the band still has plenty of fight left yet.  As close to a ballad you are likely to get from The Poor, ‘Don’t Know What You’re Missing’ closes the new tracks in fine style.

Rounding out the album is a nice little piece of Australian rock history featuring 3 demo’s the band recorded back in 1999/2000 at the late Billy Thorpe’s Electric Mountain studio’s in Sydney.  Being demo’s the songs show where the band was headed with regards to a follow up to ‘Who Cares’ and offer a nice little piece of history for the die hard fans.

There is enough on ‘Round 1’ to suggest that The Poor still have something to offer the Aussie rock scene and I already await Round 2 to see what the band come up with.  But to experience The Poor, one needs to experience the blood, sweat and beers the band shed up on the stage, which you can do in the coming weeks on their Aussie tour, which also includes some shows with fellow Aussie pub rock legends, The Screaming Jets!!