The Chromosomes are a pop punk band who formed in 1993 in Livorno, Italy. Playing that pop punk style that is a cross between The Ramones and The Beach Boys made famous by The Queers, the three piece released a brand new eleven song album last October named Losing Eleven. Sounds perfect for a chilly Monday in January.
First up is the track My Rowdy Hula Dancer. Immediately a big smile appeared on my bearded face the first time I listened to this track. It's a cheery one about being in love on a beach and having a wonderful time. How can they not put a smile on anyone's face? Of course it's ridiculously catchy and will have you singing along and tapping your toes quickly. This song really sets the tone for what The Chromosomes and Losing Eleven is all about. The second track is titled A Duet With Dolly and is about exactly what you probably assume it's about, performing a duet with Dolly Parton. It's a song that doesn't take itself too seriously and is just a whole lot of fun. I enjoyed the little dig at the modern day pop stars who rely on autotuning for their vocals. As you might expect from a band that is inspired by The Beach Boys, the song features some delicious harmonies. Watchin' Airplanes is the title of the third song. Musically the song is slightly harder and features some pounding drums throughout. The fun, happy times remain though with a song that is about doing your favourite thing with the person you love - what more could you ever want?
The fourth song is named Heavy Metal Kid. It's a song that pokes a little bit of fun at metal kids and how they're not as hard or dangerous as they like to think. They're actually quite nice. By now it's clear The Chromosomes have a knack of writing witty songs that will make you smirk. Mr. Grabbs is one of my favourite songs on Losing Eleven. It's an ode to an old Basketball teacher named (you guessed it) Mr. Grabbs. What I really loved about this song as the way the vocals flow along with the melody. It's kind of punchy without really hitting hard and immediately grabbed my attention. There are also some more of those delicious harmonies. The sixth song continues the sporting theme. It's named Goalkeeper and is about goalkeepers. If there was an award for the catchiest song by an Italian pop punk band I feel like The Chromosomes would have it in the bag. I challenge you to listen to this song and not be humming it for the rest of the day. It'll be stuck in my head the next time I'm forced to go in goal at five-a-side. Track number seven is titled Leavin' Canada and is about falling in love with a place, the example given being Canada. What a fantastic song this is. Again it's superbly catchy and is the most fun to sing-a-long with. I loved the little nod to Canadian pop punk legends Chixdiggit during the track. Chixdiggit are one of the most underrated pop punk bands ever. The finale of the song is a cracker. The addition of harmonies spelling out Canada to the chorus gives the song that good time feel that a live crowd will adore.
Escape From The Orgy Of Media is probably the darkest sounding song on Losing Eleven. It strays away from The Beach Boys sound and on first listen I was actually reminded of MXPX. The drums in particular thunder along on the track while the guitars and vocals do a good job of attempting to keep up with the tempo. The song itself is about society's need to document everything in their lives to seemingly prove themselves to everyone else. Like if you're unwell you need a picture to prove you are unwell. When you think about it like this the whole concept is crazy but that's modern society and we're all guilty of it. The ninth song is a cover of the Dolly Parton classic Coat Of Many Colors. This is definitely the first time Dolly Parton has gotten two mentions on a CPRW post. It's a fun little cover that a live crowd will absolutely adore. Stupidly catchy and will get everyone having a good ol' barn dance. The penultimate song is TV Will Blast You. I've been waiting for a song on Losing Eleven to start with some "do do dah do"s and TV Will Blast You is that. I'm surprised it took ten songs for it to happen. The song is about how TV can brainwash you if you're not careful. Finally we have the song The Age Of Summer. This song is a nice surprise on the album. It starts out with soft acoustic guitar and quiet vocals, of course you expect the full band to kick in soon. You get far enough into the song where you believe it will stay acoustic throughout and then BOOM! Full band for the song's big finale. Great fun!
What a great record of 90s Lookout style pop punk Losing Eleven is. The Chromosomes have put out one of the best pop punk records of 2017 and proved themselves to be legends in their genre. I wish I had known about them earlier and I feel like many more people should be aware of them. They've been going since 1993 so I have some lost time to make up on.
Stream Losing Eleven here: https://thechromosomes.bandcamp.com/album/losing-eleven
Like The Chromosomes here: https://www.facebook.com/TheChromosomesband
This review was written by Colin Clark.
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