Mat Williams is a damn mess. Seeing Liquids live for the first time this past summer really proved that to me. I had heard the rumors that he was sloppy, but nothing prepared me for the total train wreck I would inevitably witness.

I spent a long hot day in Oklahoma City within spitting distance of the band. As a matinee show began under the sweltering heat, and as onlookers began sipping on tall cans bought at beer stores, I spotted the buff boy himself chugging down PBR. Soon after, it was hard to miss that he had began to sway with each step and it was hard to not worry how he would play that night if he couldn’t walk that day.

And that is how I figured out why they’re called Liquids.

While Williams is sloshed in-person, the music they record is loosely-tight – fast and hard, yet only teetering toward the sloppy. It’s a bundled mess that is self-contained from falling apart. Their most recent release 2 Soft Serves and a Hard Rock delivers 3-songs of pure pop-slop in that tinny Liquids fashion. It’s the most mid-tempo that Liquids have ever tottered and it’s a surprise joy to hear them slow things down from their normal break-neck pace.

There’s a classic powerpop feel throughout the entire thing. It’s a revelling sound, if not purely to give a middle finger towards all the Burger Records glam bands that loudly and proudly claim the name as their own without a touch of catchiness and grit that true pioneers of the genre had. Everything about this screams old style rocknroll while bringing the modern ‘egg’ movement into the fray.

Before the end of the last song, you’ll find yourself mumbling along, learning the lyrics, and proclaiming,

I don’t wanna get to know you.