“Used To Be Cool” is the guitar-heavy new single from LA-based rocker Prism Tats

In an age of constant communication, the unfamiliarity of “I tried to reach you / But you are unreachable” is a distinctly modern experience of disconnection. Van der Spek turns this feeling into a roaring anthem.

The infectious singalong track was all recorded by one-man machine van der Speck, who spent his formative years listening to his dad’s Beatles, Bowie and Kinks records. His Prism Tats project notably has a rock and roll drive – no doubt inherited from these legends – while taking on a more garage-centred sound, with pounding drums and a nagging electric guitar hook.

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“Somebody said fame is fleeting / The only way to the top is cheating”, sings van der Spek on this track. From the sound of things, Prism Tats won’t have to worry too much about cheating his way up the ranks of indie rock.