On The Rocks by Hovercraft is a call to Piers ‘Charlie Pepper’ Wildman, lovingly known as Peppers, to come back home. Peppers, the original songwriter of the Hovercraft trio, vanished from the scene after delivering a few chart-topping hits in 1996. The remaining members, David ‘Golly God’ Marsden and Aaron ‘Ron Nasty’ Downing, have now reunited after almost three decades to reconstruct his lyrical genius with the help of AI.
Hovercraft has released On The Rocks as a collection of twelve songs celebrating Pepper’s legacy, living, breathing, and danceable soft rock, pop, and indie numbers. These tracks were originally recorded 30 years ago on backward cassette tapes at half speed, making them barely audible. Now, they have been fully refurbished and reimagined by the surviving bandmates, not only as a tribute but also as a means of closure to the journey they began long ago.
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The album opens with Anytime, a pop-rock love track. Anytime carries a late-80s vibe, danceable with shimmering disco lights, but adorned with a contemporary vocal tone. The song serves as a bright beginning to an album filled with reflections on love in a time of chaos. The track is a celebration of raw and wild love.
The next Track, Love, starts with the lines: “Don’t need no violent revolution. Drop the gun, we gotta live this one!” Set against a soft acoustic background and a soothing vocal delivery, Love is an anthem for a love revolution. “You gotta push your little psyche to another dimension. Divine intervention ain’t no human invention….It’s all about Love.” Lyrically profound, this is one of my favourites.
If there were ever a song that grasped the illusion of the mind and the delusion of the world, it would be Superman. Simple words capture the magic of life, the purity of heart, and the desire to feel alive. Superman is a soft rock gem with one of the best rhythms on the album.
After a couple of love and relationship-themed tracks comes a hyper-energetic Indie Kid. At first listen, its rhythm resembles the Friends TV series theme song from 1992. But soon, its deep lyrics and the peppy chorus take a strong hold on the listener.
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My personal favourite, Bob Bob Bob, is perhaps the most intimate and moving number. Alongside its emotional lyrics about love, Bob Bob Bob offers a harsh and realistic view of the world’s narcissism. The song delivers some of the album’s most heartwrenching and honest lines. “Common children, gather around. Can you hear the famous sound of everybody crying in the night…ten thousand people dead because they don’t know how to face the morning light.”
On The Rocks carries songs the world needs to listen to. Every track holds a message that deserves to be heard by all.
The disappearance of Pepper and the loss of what this band could have offered the world feels heartbreaking. This album is a journey down memory lane, bringing to life what should never have been forgotten. Marsden and Downing have spent months reconstructing Pepper’s lost catalog through AI sound archaeology. On The Rocks marks Chapter Two of the Hovercraft trilogy, exploring darker indie-rock territory, where disco beats meet deep emotion and folk intimacy builds to hypnotic intensity. To stay updated on Hovercraft’s remarkable rebirth, follow them on their Website.
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