New Earth Farmers

NEW EARTH FARMERS, “War Inside Our Hearts”

“War Inside Our Hearts” takes us back to a post-punk early 80’s approach to rock music which isn’t heard too much these days. It’s updated through contemporary Americana and folk sounds that you might hear from bands like The Lumineers. New Earth Farmers is a Northern California quintet that flips the raging, rebellious attitudes of the early 80’s on their sides in favour of positivity and inclusion, asking why rather than going on a rant. This makes the approach behind “War Inside Our Hearts” quite refreshing, while still having a lot of grit and edginess in its backbone, among its inspirations from The Clash in particular. Singer/guitarist/keyboardist Paul Knowles reminds me at times of Tom Petty, and among the band members is an original founder of seminal British rock group The Alarm, drummer Nigel Twist (I saw a memorable concert by The Alarm in the late 80’s), who was in the band’s classic lineup till 1991.  - BILLCSMUSIC BLOG