The debut release by Pig City Records, Strange Ways by Some Jerks, is out now. Strange Ways is a short, sweet mix of pop delights. There’s the heavenly title track, with its choir-like coda. The much darker new single Man, I Told You So, which is already exceeding the community radio success of The Hunter. The snappy 18 Years and Rabbit Hand, between them, add up to just over a minute. Some Jerks don’t waste time: “Don’t bore us, get to the chorus!” as Motown’s Berry Gordy once said. The album also contains two covers: an uncanny version of Blondie’s Dreaming, and a less reverent instrumental of Slayer’s Raining Blood that ramps up the song’s spaghetti-western shootout feel.

Tickets to the band’s (and label’s) launch show this Friday at Black Bear Lodge are moving fast. Supporting Some Jerks on the night will be legendary former Screaming Tribesman Mick Medew and his band the Mesmerisers; fellow Pig City Records signing Sabrina Lawrie – her first show since she broke her back in a fall in March – with Dandy Warhols keyboard player Zia McCabe as special guest DJ after 11pm.