Mouth Reader, in its messy, snotty and slipshod glory, is really the sound of my coming-of-age when there was little to do for entertainment other than go to some basement house show where you were sure to get sprayed by a popped-open beer, maybe hit with the can or kicked in the head by an unsteady crowd surfer, all the while listening to a yowling group—likely a duo or trio—hammer and bang away at their instruments in some nuanced variation of this thing called garage rock.

Mouth Reader is that, with some colorings of psych-rock and more than a touch of punk, emulating a range of some of the most notorious musical bangers and snarlers including, but not limited to, Buzzcocks, Sex Pistols, The Stooges and sometimes The Replacements.

A split by Mouth Reader has only been out for about a minute, and so has this fledgling band that dropped its debut eponymous EP in January of this year, followed by a two-track release in March. With Kyle Frary, also the band’s cover artist, on guitar and vocals, and Ethan Rose on drums and bass, “Slave” has a scuzzy, thunderous bite that brought to mind Deep Purple. Frary’s falsetto as the song opens is the perfect, iconic hard rock contrast paired with his guitar riff. It has the distortion of a 60-year-old TV set—fuzzy, static and thick enough to choke on.

“Uncontrollable Urge” is track two, jumpstarted by Frary’s echoing, far-off rebel yell followed with some shredding, snotty vocals reminiscent of Paul Westerberg.

Mouth Reader’s release early this year is much of the same, only with room for much more variation over six tracks and a stronger surf-rock influence in addition to a bit of ’60s pop influence missing in their most recent recording. Both releases are great, the music is well suited to a place like the Springwater, it’s a dose of nostalgia to lots of Nashville kids, and it feels like the scuzzy brain residue left in the wake of a PBR.

To hear Mouth Reader, visit mouthreader.bandcamp.com.