Anthems seem to come easy to Blacktop Queen. According to a press release, the LA-based trio has risen from “the ashes of previous bands, soured relationships, and breakups.” That’s an age-old anthem recipe, and one that, give or take a dash of vinegar, has proven to be very effective.

In their first single, “Spiderbite,” Blacktop Queen showed that they have the deft ability to feel out a song. As with any proper anthem, the chorus plays like it couldn’t have been written any other way, a rare quality that extends beyond the wattage of the speaker. “Good luck finding a garage big enough to hold this song’s punchy, anthemic chorus,” said Consequence of Sound in their premiere of the song. Good luck indeed.

It turns out the band knows a thing or two about garages. “When you are 15 years old in a garage with your friends there is no thought to pleasing, no thought to fear of approval, just the unadulterated desire to play your ass off,” explains guitarist/vocalist Evan Ambrose. “That’s what we wanted to return to with Blacktop Queen.”

Today, Nerdist is premiering the band’s second single, “Everybody,” which confirms that the garage is a natural habitat for Blacktop Queen. But as CoS alludes, it may be too small a venue.

The song’s crunchy guitars and biting vocal have the lo-fi wrinkle of an automatic garage door, but it’s enveloped in a sizable package that’s meant to fill an arena. It’s the grit of early Queens of the Stone Age and the polished memorability of Cage the Elephant, tossed with a dash of Black Lips’ punkish “no thought to pleasing.”

Blacktop Queen score their second anthem in as many tries.

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IMAGE: Artist