Album Review: Always In For Happy Days by Three Eyed Jack

Three Eyed Jack are a three-piece melodic punk band from Oostkamp, Belgium. Back in September they released their debut album Always In For Happy Days.

The first track is just a long guitar led intro before the album really starts on track number two - Faded Memories. This song begins quickly with some fast guitar chords and some quick drum rolls. It's pretty evident on this track that Three Eyed Jack are hugely influenced by 90's skate punk. Gone has more of a pop punk sound to it with some instantly catchy and singable vocals. This is before shifting back to the harder melodic sound and including a bit more of a hardcore vocal midway through. It's great to hear such a variation of punk sounds in the song without it feeling clustered. Still Not OK has a longer intro that builds the song up. The sound of this song has Santa Barbra's The Ataris written all over it, with the mixture of melody and pop punk. The vocals are urgent and full of emotion and really pull you into the song. I really enjoyed the drum beat intro to song number five, No Regrets. This song is played at a slower tempo than the previous ones but manages to keep the band’s urgency. On this track the band really show off their skills as musicians, this is what makes the song really stand out. Particularly the fantastic guitar solo midway through, amazing stuff.

The sixth song is titled You and is a ballad. It starts out much gentler than anything else so far on the album and throughout I was constantly expecting it to jump into full on skate punk mode but the most it ever does is go into a louder, rowdy chorus. This is that song at a gig where the crowd comes together and sings loud. Fly Away, Float Away is the shortest song on the album but certainly packs a big punch. The song starts fast with everything played at top speed before the chorus turns into a big fist-in-the-air sing-along. The gang vocals on the track really reminded me of legendary skate punks Pennywise. Test Your Luck has an interesting whistling start before another fast skate punk anthem explodes into life. (I really hope the whistling is part of the live show!) The bass and drums really get to shine during the song, adding some great fills between the slick guitars and fantastic gang vocals. The penultimate song, Games, goes back to the pop punk sound. This song is full of catchy hooks and choruses that will bring a smile to your face. This is a real summer anthem that I can imagine being played on an American teen comedy. The harmonies during the end of the song are absolutely fantastic and really complete the song.  Always In For Happy Days finishes with a slower, emotional, pull on your heartstrings kind of song. The singer’s vocals are a lot more sombre on this track as he contemplates his existence in the world. It's always interesting to hear a band try different styles on their album and again really shows off Three Eyed Jacks abilities as songwriters and musicians.

For a debut record this is a very accomplished body of work. Like I said earlier, Three Eyed Jack are clearly inspired by 90s skate punk music but never on this record does it sound like they are rehashing anything that's been done before and that is quite the achievement. 

Stream and buy Always In For Happy Days here: https://threeeyedjackpunk.bandcamp.com/releases 

Like Three Eyed Jack here: https://www.facebook.com/threeeyedjack