Cheap Time

Cheap Time

Exit Smiles

In The Red

Nashville, Tennessee’s punk warlords Cheap Time soldier on, delivering their fourth studio album. Produced once again by band leader / singer / guitarist Jeffrey Novak at his home studio, Exit Smiles builds off the sound of 2012’s Wallpaper Music, employing sharper production and more expansive songwriting. Along with danceable art-rock stompers like “Kill the Light,” and “Slow Variety,” the album also includes more progressive material like “Modern Taste” and the abrasive title track that opens the album. Taking everything up a notch is new bassist Jessica McFarland (vocalist of Heavy Cream), whose voice is the perfect counterpoint to Novak’s Bailey / Devoto punk snarl. McFarland’s tight bass playing fits right in the pocket between Novak’s overblown guitar chords and drummer Ryan Sweeney’s endless, Moon-y drum fills. Sweeney is Cheap Time’s backbone, an integral part of the band since 2010’s Fantastic Explanations. His drumming is powerful and relentless, especially on songs like “Country and City.” Where most bands drag or burn out around their second album, Cheap Time are students of rock history. They tread in the footsteps of their ’70s heroes—like Sparks or Alice Cooper—learning from the shortcomings of previous works and continuing to develop their craft. They’ve worn out their John Cale and Peter Hammill LPs, and finally delivered the classic punk album for 2013!

Cheap Time

Goodbye Age

Total Punk

***Hot Damn! CHEAP TIME is back. I’ve been a fan out the gate but last year’s “Wall Paper Music” FUCK!!!! Gone was the shambolic mess of the early singles, the Sparks-isms of the first LP, it seems the band had dug into the well of Aussie punk, bringing to mind most prominently the second Saints albums, and came out with their best album yet. Well fear not because on this new single Cheap Time continues on their current ascent. They pound out two rhythm driven sneered punk stompers that have the band sounding tighter than ever. If you haven’t seen Cheap Time live lately this band is really hitting on all points right now. Edition of 500 copies.

Cheap Time

Other Stories

Sweet Rot

***“Back in March 2007, Sweet Rot's second ever release was the debut 7" by CHEAP TIME. A couple of years later we released a single by front man JEFFREY NOVAK. Now Sweet Rot is pleased to continue the collaboration with a new two-song 7" which comes hot on the heels of the band's quite great Wallpaper Music LP on In the Red Records. These two new songs—’Other Stories’ and ‘In This World’—are a prime example of what a ‘70s sounding glam punk single should be—short, well written and produced, and super catchy. We feel these songs perfectly complement each other and think fans of the band's previous work will too.”

Cheap Time

Wallpaper Music

In The Red

Hailing from Tennessee, Cheap Time has been around in one incarnation or another since 2006. The nucleus has always been Jeffrey Novak, who writes and sings in addition to playing guitar and keyboards. The band began with members of the band Be Your Own Pet rounding out the lineup—theirs was a sound of a teen punk band with more attitude than musicianship, owing more than a little to early Redd Kross. By the time Cheap Time recorded their debut album, the personnel had changed drastically and, in addition to improved musicianship, Novak brought in influences of ’70s glam and power pop acts like Sparks and The Quick. The band followed this with more lineup shuffles and a sophomore album, Fantastic Explanations (and Similar Situations), that was darker, moodier and more complex than its predecessor. Despite the many changes, however, Cheap Time has always been a sum of its parts. A quintessential ingredient is the low-fi bombast with which they scuzz up their otherwise lightweight brand of simplified 1970s glam punk, packing an impressive amount of adolescent snottiness into two-minute blasts of sound with both precision and melody. Cheap Time are now back with their third and by far strongest record to date. Recorded in Novak’s new home studio, Wallpaper Music distills perfectly all the phases through which the band has passed to date. Retaining both the punk moves and pop-damaged glam jams, the band delivers their most realized, cohesive record yet. Songs like “More Cigarettes” and “Another Time” are Aussie-esque...

Cheap Time

Fantastic Explanations (and Similar Situations)

In The Red

LP VERSION INCLUDES FREE DOWNLOAD COUPON!!!   Some people didn't know what to make of Cheap Time's self-titled debut album when it was released in 2008. It was a huge leap from their first 7-inch of the year before, and it didn't really sound like anything else going at that time. Too glamtastic and bubblegum for the garage purists and too raw for indie rockers. Cheap Time's new album, entitled Fantastic Explanations (and Similar Situations), proves that they are capable of still further artistic leaps. Guitarist / songwriter Jeffrey Novak soaks up his influences and spits out new songs with more complex structures and melodies than ever before, while bassist Stephen Braren adds backbone to the songs with his heavily compressed Roy-Wood-style playing, and new drummer Ryan Sweeney tightens up the sound while still keeping things very loose. The Fantastic Explanations sessions have also become something of legend--tracking for the album ended abruptly after engineer Mike McHugh suffered a breakdown and kicked the band out of the studio at gunpoint. Once the tapes were retrieved over a month later, Earle Mankey (ex-Sparks member and producer of the Quick's Mondo Deco and The Runaways' Queens of Noise) was brought in to mix the final album, which turned out to be a perfect match! Anyone who saw Cheap Time on tour last year opening for Yo La Tengo will be pleased with the way these new songs have turned out on record. Fantastic Explanations (and Similar Situations) will surely surprise, divide and...

Cheap Time

Woodland Drive / Penny And Jenny

In The Red

Two brand new studio tracks from Nashville, TN's favorite pop-punk-glam-bubblegum band. Snotty, catchy ditties informed by Sparks, The Quick, Milk ’n’ Cookies, and early Kinks that'll tide you over until this band unleashes their next full-length. Woodland Drive / Penny and Jenny comes in a handsome, Fontana-esque picture sleeve. Edition of 1000

Cheap Time

S/t

In The Red

Henderson, Tennessee's Jeffrey Novak is a name familiar to those who pay attention to the whole lo-fi-garage-punk underbelly of today's indie scene. He's released a handful of singles and at least one album on labels in the US and Europe as a one-man-band and with his former group, The Rat Traps. He's been at it for nearly five years and he's barely in his twenties. Cheap Time is his newest and most serious endeavor to date. Founded with Jemina Pearl and Nathan Vasquez of Be Your Own Pet, Cheap Time set out to recapture the essence of teenage schlock rock scuzz of such heroes as Redd Kross and The Runaways. Along the way, members shifted, as did the band's direction. An obsession with '70s glam power pop a la Sparks, The Quick, and Milk 'n' Cookies grew, and the music took on a twisted new slant never hinted in any of his previous projects. The results are the current line-up of Cheap Time and this full-length album.  Cheap Time's self-titled debut is 28 minutes of snotty punk pop perfection. From the New-York-Dolls-via-Germs screech of "Tight Fit" to the anglophile power pop of "Ginger Snap" to the bubblegum bounce of "Trip To The Zoo," this debut has instant classic stamped all over its bratty face.  Catch Cheap Time on tour with Jay Reatard this spring!