I've been aware of Las Vegas ska punk band Be Like Max since they got announced for a show at my home from home the New Cross Inn last October. Unfortunately I happened to be in Japan buying all the third wave ska records I could find on the day of the show so missed out on what I've been told was a great night. When scrolling through Bandcamp recently I discovered the band released a new album in February. Titled Save Us All and produced by ska punk legend David McWane of Big D & The Kids Table, this is Be Like Max's fourth album and is their most aggressive and in your face album yet.
Save Us All opens with the song Time Flies When You're Having Work. This song really lays down a marker for the rest of the album, this is a blisteringly fast ska punk track. Exploding with energy, the song will get you skanking like a mad person. It's about being in a job you dislike but also not wanting to sell out and join the management scheme. Preston Harper's drums add some great intensity to the final portion of the song, really helping to display Be Like Max's anger on the topic and the dual vocals from Charlie Fine and Christopher Powers give the song an inclusive feel which I thought was wonderful. At Least I'm Not A Toucher follows this and the anger continues. This time Be Like Max show their support for the #metoo movement and talk about how despite them being no angels they know it's definitely not right to abuse your power and take advantage of women. I urge you to go and check out the lyrics to this song – they are superb, really putting across the message of the track. The energy and tempo remain throughout the verses but when the chorus hits things slow down a bit to encourage a great big sing-along. The third song is titled Elitist Punks. The song takes shots at the punks who think they are better than everyone else, completely forgetting what punk is in the process. Be Like Max manage to get even faster on this song, leaving me pretty breathless just trying to follow along. The track does slow slightly towards the end to allow for a gang vocal cry of "elitist punks, so stuck up, tell me how did you get so good at telling every other band they suck!"
Be Like Max slow things down slightly on the fourth song, King Of The House. On this track the band take a modern approach on a more traditional ska/two tone style with Esteban Flores’ keys really coming to the forefront. Despite the slower approach to the song, the energy somehow remains and you will still be dancing throughout the song. The song is about how life is much better when you're at your home with your loved one and worrying that one day they will leave you. The Boss Is Stealing picks the tempo back up in a ferocious manner. Dabbling with some skacore, this is such a circle pit opening song. This is The Suicide Machines meets Slow Gherkin, intense with some of the best brass in the game. It's about how the fat cats at the top of the business pyramid get most of the money while the folk doing all the work ensuring things run smoothly don't get paid very well at all. Something I'm sure a lot of people will relate to. The sixth song, Dreams, is just fifty seconds long but my goodness Be Like Max manage to pack a lot in to it. This is a chaotic ska punk track about changing your dreams to be more realistic for the good of your mental health. Starting out with that super fast tempo, it will again get you dancing like an idiot before the song switches towards a more bouncy style that will have you finish the song with a skank. It's good that this is only a fifty second song – at this pace you'd struggle to make it to the end if it was much longer.
Fuck The News is a horn driven song about how you shouldn't believe everything you hear from the media. Here Be Like Max perfectly blend high tempo ska punk that will really have you picking your knees up with a more classic, jazzy swing style. This i something that I never knew I needed in my life and, now I have it, my life does feel slightly more complete. The rapid fire vocal delivery helps add an intensity that is needed in a song with this message. The eighth track, Give It Up, seems to skip any form of intro and just jumps into its first verse. This really grabs your attention. Fine's vocals feel raw and strained as he blasts through the song. We quickly reach the chorus and things slow down for a sing-along and a skank as the band sing "don’t trust your government no sweat they’ll use you anyway systematic schemes keep running fuelled by loyalty our economy is bought and paid for by big corps complex industries throughout this world are run by (whores)." We learn from this that the song is about the band's disdain for the government. The song is another short one but the change in tempo does a great job of making the track feel full.
Doomsday (which is a cover of a Mephiskapheles song) is a brass lead song where Stephen Anongthep (trombone), Matthew Ellis (saxophone) and Javier Munoz (trumpet) really get to show off their skills. I think I would have really enjoyed this song if it was solely instrumental – the band do such a good job here. The vocals do add to the song though as Fine sings about what would happen to the world when it all goes wrong and we come to our doomsday. The penultimate song is titled I Disagree. On this track Be Like Max head down more of a punk route, at times reminding me of Direct Hit, but backed by horns. I'm sure you've guessed by now – it's fast! There's plenty of punch and melody throughout though as the band passionately play a song about their love for being a DIY band despite constantly being told to quit. As the song goes on, it builds with the horns coming more and more into the song. These extra layers give the song a big feeling and an air of importance. The final song on Save Us All is Home Away From Home. What a perfect way to finish the album, with a bouncy sing-along about having plenty of places where you feel like you're at home when you're on tour. After plenty of tracks where Be Like Max feel pretty angry, it's nice to finish in such an upbeat fashion. I can imagine that the band have plenty of big smiles on their faces when they play this song, just like the big smile I have on my face listening to it.
My gosh, I enjoyed this album. It's so much fun but also has so many important messages on it. It's eleven songs in just twenty minutes but it actually feels even quicker than that as I had such great time listening to it. I think there's a big argument that this could be my favourite American ska punk album released in the last decade. I hope they find their way back to England again soon so I can see them after missing out last time. If not, I'll have to be content with skanking around my living room to this amazing album.
Stream Save Us All here: https://belikemax.bandcamp.com/
Like Be Like Max here: https://www.facebook.com/belikemaxlv/
This review was written by Colin Clark.
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