# Band of the Week – Scotland’s PAWS

- Link: https://indierockcafe.com/2013/02/band-of-the-week-scotlands-paws/
- Published: 2013-02-14T04:41:20-05:00
- Author: Max Hammer

[[
 The **Glasgow** lo-fi garage/punk pop trio **PAWS** gun it on their latest single,“
Miss American Bookworm,” blasting out from the starting gate with a fast-driving,
rhythmic, and vibrantly melodic romp. PAWS’ new album, _Cokefloat!_, released by**
Fat Cat Records**, captures the energy and rawness (or ‘pawness’) of the band’s 
live shows, and per the title, is, as the band said, “like a sugar high,” adding“
all of the lyrics are pretty much a documentation of the past two years. A lot of
crazy things have happened in our lives – some good, some horrific…there is a strong
feeling of positivity and hope running throughout this record [like] light piercing
through some distinctly dark times. We’re playing in this band to keep going and
stay alive.”

[“Miss American Bookworm”](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/10%20Miss%20American%20Bookworm1.mp3)–**
PAWS **from _Cokefloat!_ on FatCat Records

The album cover art for _Cokefloat!_ (below) is somewhat misleading. It features
a drawing of a wide-eyed young girl encircled by hearts and flowers, which, at a
glance, implies the songs within would be something along the lines of light love
tracks or teenie bopper pop of the 1960’s. In fact, it’s much more aggressive and
rebellious than that, yet the overall sound is brimming with fun, jubilant, enthusiastic
romps, Violent Femmes-like rhythms and punchy melodies. The band has an amazing 
range of genres and sounds they cover from acoustic ballads and screaming punk bashers
to catchy indie rockers and indie pop songs.

Band members **Phillip Taylor, Josh Swinney**, and **Matt Scott** create fusions
of catchy, fuzzy power pop with dynamic, energized, Violent Femmes-like indie rock
that is thrilling to listen to. Part of the credit also needs to go to Rory Atwell
of Test Icicles for his input as the LP’s producer. _Cokefloat!_, in our view, is
one of the best debut albums of the year, and PAWS is one of the breakout bands 
of 2012.

Related Post:  Band of the Week - The Airplanes

[⌊pawsalbum⌉⌊pawsalbum⌉[
 The band’s name makes it more challenging to find information
about them in search engines; one, because ‘paws’ is a fairly common word, although
most associated, not surprisingly, with all things related to man’s best friend.
Secondly, the band’s name has a similar construction of many other band names (The
Big Paws; Paw Paws; Monster Paws, among many others). It will become easier over
time to find links about the band if they continue to keep the momentum they’ve 
built over the past two years, albeit, mostly in the U.K. and Europe, and hopefully,
poised to get more love from here in the States.

“Homecoming” – **PAWS** from _Cokefloat_

[“Bloodline”](https://indierockcafe.com/wp-content/uploads/05%20-%20Bloodline.mp3)–**
PAWS** from _Cokefloat_