The Rotten Cores bill themselves as a rockabilly band and they certainly have elements of that in their DNA but that tag doesn’t quite do them justice: the tales of drunken debauchery, broken promises, and ruined lives on their debut are simultaneously sad and funny enough to almost qualify as a strain of Celtic punk. At first, “All It Takes” makes them sound like they’re aiming for the amateur (i.e., college) drunks) but then they roll out the dying prostitute of “Lewd and Abandoned,” the heartbreaking one-night stand of “The Lovely Distraction” (a duet with torchy reggae act Miss Mec), and the weary Confederate vet of “Bonnie Blue Flag”—all delivered without a scrap of self-pity and you realize they’re aiming for something larger.

They don’t always get it—lead singer and guitarist Aden Paul is a little too eager to please, and he sometimes ends up stuffing his lines full of clumsy exposition—but as drinking songs go, these are better than most. The trio’s mix of rockabilly, country and folk can hit you right where you live, or at least where you end up vomiting at the end of the night. Time will tell if The Rotten Cores have anything in them on a level with, say, Social Distortion’s “Ball and Chain” or Firewater’s “Knock ’em Down,” but this is a good place to start, especially since they can also deliver after-hours weepers like “(You Killed) The Greatest Love Song” and “Distraction,” a perfect GPS of the bar-band vet’s romantic universe: “Many years of acting tough / But I hadn’t forgotten to feel / I hoped you’d stick around long enough / For me to see that little bruise heal.”