Always Bet On Clark

Is Beer Cheese a classic cheese styling? I've had beer & cheddar soup, I thought that was pretty good..but I don't recall ever having beer cheese. Well, maybe Lay's is lying to me or maybe they're not, but one of their turn up the flavor..flavors..this year is Kettle Cooked Classic Beer Cheese (with an orange lightening bolt between Beer and Cheese). When I cracked the bag and took a whiff they smelt like somewhat stale chips (I think that's the beer in the beer cheese flavouring [the Guaranteed Fresh date is 21MAY2019]). I took a bite and the first thing that popped into my head was, "my, those chips are yeasty..with some thick seasoning (the coverage is fairly good, but I mean the actual seasoning is quite dense). Once you get past the initial yeasty flavour, you're met with a weird faux cheese mixed with..I don't know, it's weird..it's almost a the taste of a fair or carnival (I know you can't actually taste a fair/carnival, but you can smell it and the second half of the flavour of these chips I think is quite fairish). They're quite salty. The crunch is mid-weight for kettle cooked chips, they're crunchy but not aggressive. You don't really taste the potato part of the chip because the seasoning is quite present. Classic(?) Beer Cheese would be best suited to a 70g bag or so, I think if I consumed the entire bag I'd get quite tired of the flavour (it's a unique flavour, I'll give em that).

I first heard of Dead Bars on a podcast a while ago..I want to say 2014ish? I can't remember the name of the podcast, I believe it was a guy from the Seattle area doing it, that doesn't really matter though. Dead Bars stuck out in my mind, I don't believe they had any releases at that time but every once in a while I'd see their name pop up online. In 2017 they put out their debut LP, Dream Gig, on No Idea Records. I added it to my bandcamp wishlist (I believe it ended up on a few best of lists at the end of the year) and that is where it has sat for the most part for the last year and a half or so. I've listened to it a few times since, and enjoyed it, but for some reason I still haven't purchased it. Welp, Dead Bars play gruff festy mid-tempo beer soaked midwestern pop punk (I know they're from Seattle, but it still sounds midwestern to me..for the most part). I hear the odd sprinkling of indie rock (is indie rock a sound [doesn't that just mean independent rock? {I dunno, if that makes sense to you then cool, if not, cool}]). I think Dream Gig is a grower for me and one of these days will really click, but for now I'll leave it in my wishlist and venture back every once in a while. Oh, and Dead Bars is releasing their follow up Regulars on May 3, so go check that out as well..or just go check that out. Either way, Dead Bars are worth a listen.

Stay hydrated,
marc