Pickle Juice – Cheeky EP With The Boys (2025)
Fusing international inspirations and influences in one high-powered burst of music, we have the international five-piece Pickle Juice. Born from a “lack-lustre snow season in 2023”, the Canada-based bunch of “ski bums” with a passionate mutual love for music put down snowboards, picked up instruments, and began pouring out sweet music. Lead guitarist Josh Radford shares, “our sound really came together in a cramped basement of snowboard gear and old instruments…”, with a kaleidoscopic union of Australia, the UK, and Canada. Today, we take a gander at their debut EP, Cheeky EP With The Boys.
A combination of their previous singles – ‘Toxic and Sweet’, ‘Caught In A Lie’ and ‘Curbstomp’ – with two more tracks – ‘Turn Up The Volume’ and ‘I Don’t Like You’ – Pickle Juice is a solid representation of the group’s personality from beginning to end. Yet, as much as there is that single identity, the EP is far from anything stagnant. Highlighting the multiple facets of a person’s personality, as well as the smoosh of different nationalities, Pickle Juice flows with diversity, innovation and originality.
Hitting you between the eyes from the outset, ‘Toxic and Sweet’ bursts with a fizzle of hard-hitting indie-rock flecked by punk undertones. For me, the first track is The Strokes meets Franz Ferdinand rush… then again, that’s just me. Keeping the indie-rock vibe, ‘I Don’t Like You’ soothes the insanity of ‘Toxic and Sweet’ with a layer of softer rock spread across the melody; however, a brash almost discomforting blend of soaring guitars, bold bass, and pounding drums exists.
Next, and we’re already losing our breath with the fist-pumping, mosh pit-ready sound, Pickle Juice keeps the memento going with ‘Caught In A Lie’. Affrontingly abrupt with heart-pounding ferocity, Pickle Juice is proving itself worthy of any festival stage in its anthemic glory. Tumbling from the track ‘Turn Up The Volume’, Pickle Juice (the band not the EP) slides out with an alternative rock banger – also high-powered, but with charming sweetness.
While the EP might toss you from pillar to post in the swirl of guitars, drums, and Tim van der Krogt’s rich vocals, it is the theme that adds weightiness to the release. A delicate but raw celebration of life from tragedy to triumph, van der Krogt explains, “Our music connects with anyone who’s ever felt out of place or carved something real…”
This review may be one of their new EP, but why not take a gander at Pickle Juice in all their rambunctious glory with the music video for ‘Toxic And Sweet’. You can view the video below or on their YouTube channel.
Find out more about Pickle Juice on their official website, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, TikTok and Spotify.
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