The Bare Minimum – “Bonestorm” [Song Review]

This latest single, “Bonestorm,” is as tight as you would normally expect from The Bare Minimum. The group has been active since 2011 when they released their first EP, followed by a slew of releases over the past 9 years. The most recent of these was their bang-on cover of “Spice Up Your Life” by The Spice Girls. Yes, you read that right. Yes, it’s a banger. No, I don’t mean the sausage. And yes, they spoofed the Huy Fong Sriracha sauce bottle for their album cover for that single. This is what genius looks like to my generation, sheeple – get a grip if you don’t like it.

As with some groups, the story is only partly in the music. The other component is in their videos, and the band has a stacked YouTube channel of homegrown music videos supporting their discography. Fortunately, despite the pandemic, this latest song doesn’t disappoint. Instead of doing social distancing or quarantine Zoom takes, the band asked Stephen Hutchins to animate a video for them. If you’re not familiar with Hutchins, he’s another criminally under-appreciated artist and one who happens to do two things very well: animation, and mind-melting, Adult Swim levels of psychedelia. So the fusion of pisstake artists from Toronto with a head trip animation artist could only mean one thing: greatness.

There’s the expected amount of hallucinatory imagery, combined with the group’s trademark goofiness. The band’s humour may be grating to some, but to the author, it’s refreshing, especially in these particularly trying times. It’s also refreshing to hear the guys just go for broke on all the things that make them an enjoyable listen: fast, giddy punk that happens to be played tight as a drum by a group that is clearly having fun.

Check out the video if you know what’s good for you.

Run Time: 2:54
Release Date: May 15, 2020
Record Label: Self-Release

The Bare Minimum