Album Review: I Scare Myself Sometimes by The Smith Street Band

I Scare Myself Sometimes is the name of the brand new 7" single from Australia's finest punks The Smith Street Band. It was recorded during the same sessions as the bands last album, the amazing Throw Me In The River. Let's have a listen to it.

The lead track, I Scare Myself Sometimes, is a duet, something I've never heard from The Smith Street Band before. The female vocals are perfectly provided by Lucy Wilson of the Australian band The Sugarcanes. The song begins slowly with Lucy taking the first verse of the song. Her voice is clean and crisp but also has an element of pain attached to it. Smith Street front man Wil Wagner takes charge of the second verse. I really liked the way they introduced Wil into the song, with him adding a few lines in Lucy's verse before taking full control of the song. His voice is, as always, full of emotion. He really has an extraordinary ability to truly make you feel what he is feeling during a song. Of course there is a big finale to the song, with the full band joining in for a final verse and Wil and Lucy finishing the song together. The song itself is about heartbreak and hope and love and self-destruction. The heartbreak and hope section is represented brilliantly by Lucy and Wil trading the lines "I Just Wanna Be Over You" and "I Just Want You All Over Me" respectively.

Following this is the song Regular Sex. This is The Smithies returning to what they are loved for; fast paced folk punk that you can sing along to. They don't really do choruses but they do have small breakdowns that lead to big sing-a-long moments. Regular Sex is no different and is a very enjoyable b-side. The final song on the release (the iTunes version anyway) is God In The Name Of The Father, a track that originally appeared on the Wipe That Shit-Eating Grin release from earlier this year, which I reviewed here.

All in all another excellent release from Smith Street Band who are turning into one of the most prolific bands around, constantly releasing amazing new material.

Buy I Scare Myself Sometimes from Banquet Records here: http://www.banquetrecords.com/KT1-048

Like The Smith Street Band here: https://www.facebook.com/thesmithstreetband

Album Review: Better Whenever by Elway

When it comes to fun, sing-a-long, punk rock music few bands do it better than Elway from Fort Collins, Colorado. Their previous two Red Scare Industries releases, Delusions and Leave Taking, were both big successes for the band so a lot was expected from new album Better Whenever. 

The first song on Better Whenever is titled Our Lady Of The Thompson River. The songs starts quite interestingly with a church sermon before a guitar riff that Chris McCaughan of The Lawrence Arms would be proud of. The sound of the record is laid out immediately with this opening track, clearly a more thoughtful and mature release than their previous outings. Albuquerque Low continues along this line as Tim Browne sings about the harsh realities of touring. It's a labour of love really, you love doing it and being with your band but it's hard to keep leaving everything behind. Title track Better Whenever really stood out to me on my first listen of the album. It starts out really slow through the first couple of verses before getting to a longer third verse that starts to build and build, culminating in a big shout-a-long ending. Tim's vocals keep you glued throughout the duration of the song as you can sense something big is coming and the anticipation is immense. The song is about getting older at your own pace. Something I and I imagine many other punks really relate to. Next track Lunatic Thirteens is a throwback to the old Elway: mid-tempo paced punk rock with a huge chorus. The production sounds a bit rougher than on the previous Elway albums but this really helps inject a lot of passion into the track. It's a song about struggling to deal with a loss and asking all those questions you won't ever be able to get answers for. The fifth song Shown To The Moon is played in a good mixture of old and new Elway styles with thoughtful restrained verses and a passionate chorus.

The guitar work at the beginning of the sixth song Ten Letter Word really gives a sense of urgency to the track. For a little while at least - after the initial urgent start things are slowed down for more thoughtful and mature punk rock feel. In comparison, Frequent Wind feels like it is destined to be a crowd favourite with its massive ‘gang’ vocal finish. The song goes at a steady pace throughout before exploding at the end with a huge chorus of "Put Your Hands Together If You're Fucked And You Know It, Don't Bother To Live If You're Too Scared To Blow It, Don't Try To Tell Me A Thing Cause I Won't Hear, No-one Belongs Here Like I Belong Here". The eighth track, Third Coast Temple, is a song about being angry with spineless people. This is the first track on the album that features any real punk rock venom and, off the top of my head, I don't really remember hearing this sort of anger on any Elway record. The rest of the band contribute some great harmonies on this song, some soothing oooohs and aaaahs.

Orphan Histories is one of my favourite songs of the year. Frankly it's a masterpiece. The lyrics are thoughtful and honest and are delivered perfectly. The music is just right; it carries the song nicely, switching from punk rock to a more laid back steady sound at any given moment. But the real tour de force is the songs finale. The song slows right down, with the guitars strumming slowly and a faint piece of organ playing in the background, before Tim joins in with some passionate and emotional vocals to complete the song perfectly. Every song should finish like that. The final song on Better Whenever is Delano. This song really feels like it could be a great set closer. Starting out with a plodding rhythm where Tim honestly sings about his life it then builds towards a massive final drunken sing-a-long chorus.

Better Whenever is a real change of pace for Elway. They've always been an honest band and, while this record has a more mature, grown-up appeal to it, it's still the Elway we all know and love. Hopefully they'll be back in the UK soon to promote this awesome album.

Stream and buy Better Whenever here: https://elwaytheband.bandcamp.com/album/better-whenever

Like Elway here: https://www.facebook.com/ElwayTheBand

Now listening to Somewhere better by Harker

Album Review: Decisions by Never Draw Back

Somehow I didn’t know Spain has a punk rock scene – I do now thanks to Madrid's Never Draw Back. They play a version of that pop punk style that is oh so popular with the kids these days. I'm admittedly not a fan of this style of punk but Never Draw Back's new album Decisions came with a great recommendation so I decided to check it out.

The opening song, Way To Exit, serves as a mission statement for the whole record. It's only forty-seven seconds long but has some powerful lyrics about being the person you want to be rather than the person someone else wants you to be. The first "proper" song is called Dream On Dreamer. This track is a really positive song about following your dreams no matter how big or daunting they seem. Musically it's what you would expect from this genre of music, thumping drum beats, crunching guitars and infectious poppy vocals mixed with a hard edge. I enjoyed the slow, methodical drum beat that opened the following song, Decisions. After a slow start the song jumps into life and gives off a lot of energy. The vocal delivery in this song feels much more aggressive than the opener and this prevents the track sounding like a carbon copy. My Judgement starts of in super angry mode with a shout of "ALL YOUR FUCKING WORDS ARE BULLSHIT AND I WILL NOT CARE." This really caught my attention and made me want to hear more. The rest of the track was actually fairly poppy; it's all about making the choices you want to make and not worrying about what other people think about that.

The fifth song, This Shit, makes excellent use of the two different vocal styles, beginning with a gruff hardcore shout before switching to the clean, pop vocal. This track is about the strong bond of friendship and, for me, the final four lines of the chorus sum up friendship perfectly - "Playing Stupid Games, We Became Best Friends, If We Were In Trouble, We Supported Each Other, Separated Strong, Together Invincible”. The next song, Metal’s Avenue, tackles an interesting song topic. It talks about the bands transformation from a metalcore band into the pop punk band they are today and how right this feels. You can tell from some of the riffs that Never Draw Back have been influenced heavily by metal music. An Apology, the seventh song, is another short one, only thirty-five seconds long. It really slows things down and shows a more thoughtful side to the band.

As I'm sure that you can guess from the title, Damn Fast is played at a quick tempo and is a real head banger of a tune. The chorus, with it's simple chant of "WE ARE! WE ARE! WE ARE!", would get a huge reaction from a live crowd I’m sure. Wild! sees Never Draw Back tackle the subject of animal rights, specifically those animals who spend their lives in cages. The overall message of the song is that animals, like humans, have the right to be free. The track falls more into a melodic skate punk sound and is my favourite on the album. The dual trading vocals add excellent urgency to the track and make it feel important. The tenth song is named Not The One and features somebody called Sito Shutter. This song eventually finds itself in screamo territory with some impressive growls and screams. Normally I'm not keen on this style but it does add an extra element to the song to stop it becoming just another pop punk song. 

Glorious is another interesting short little song. It's just a fifty-eight second instrumental and serves two great purposes. Firstly to calm things down after the initial rowdiness of Not The One and secondly as a nice long intro to the next song The Power Of Conviction. This song starts off with some big crowd pleasing whoa-ohs before becoming another song about being strong enough to follow your dreams. A key element in Decisions is positive songs about going for what you want and that is a big reason for me enjoying it as much as I did. The final song on the album is titled Ten Years....We Are [True Believers]. This song is about sticking with being in band through the hard times because you absolutely love what you're doing. The first part of the song is good, fast skate punk before the band slow things down with a break down and then end on one final assault of melodic punk mayhem.

Stream and buy Decisions here: https://neverdrawback.bandcamp.com/album/decisions 

Like Never Draw Back here: https://www.facebook.com/NeverDrawBack

Album Review: The Regressives by The Regressives

The Regressives are a punk rock and roll band from New York. After forming in 2011 under the name The Stockyard Stoics before changing to The Regressives they have just put out a new self titled album. Here's my review of it.

The opening track, Revolution Ballad is a classic sounding punk anthem. After starting out a little slowly before turning into a The Clash inspired number remembering failed attempts at revolutions. The street punk sound of the vocals gives the song a lot of energy and the many gang vocals really help make the chorus massive. The second track Culture War feels much more aggressive than Revolution Ballad. The Regressive go on the attack against modern culture, the media and there scare tactics. There is a lot of spite and venom coming from the lead singer throughout the song and manages to really make me care about what he is saying. Long Time Coming has a different and interesting sound. The verses are played with a polka style you don't often hear combined with street punk before the chorus hits and makes you want t shout along with the band. The Wrong Animal is a minute and a half of anger. Everything about this song is hard, from the drums to the guitars to the vocals and lyrics, the band seem extremely pissed off. They manage to keep the chorus very catchy though and encourage you to join in with their anger with a chorus of "Up In Flames!"

Lt. Piggot (We Salute You) is a big bar room sing-a-long. It's a fast pace track with vocals coming from everywhere. This must go down a storm live with a the crowd shouting along to the cry of "Lt. Piggott We Salute You! Fairytale is a short psychobilly sounding track with a strong bass line leading the song during the verse before a big group chorus. I like that The Regressives aren't afraid to throw in different styles of music  into their sound whilst still managing to sound like themselves. Red Blood feels like a song that doesn't really know it's own identity. It's enjoyable enough in its current form but I can't but feel that if it stayed at the slower tempo that's played at the beginning of the song it would be a classic. The faster tempo that the song is played at made it difficult for me to get completely immersed in the song. 

The eighth song Problems is one of my favourites on the album. It's a bouncy ska punk song which I'm sure you can guess what the topic of the song if from its title. The overall message though is that everyone has problems and that is totally okay. You are not alone. Roots changes the sound again, this time to a more country/folk punk sound. The Regressives manage to do every single style imaginable very very well. This song is about making a name for yourself somewhere and you will be remembered long after you die. The band use a the circle of life of a tree for a clever metaphor for this. Track number ten is named Untitled. Or the song is just doesn't have a name and they're making things confusing for reviewers? This is a by the numbers punk rock song about realising that the world isn't like you had hoped it would be and learning to live with the disappointment. 

Like Roots, Wildlife In America also uses a metaphor to get its message across. In this song The Regressives compare people to animals saying that we're all the same. Musically this song really reminded me of political punks Anti-Flags trademark sound with the bands lead singer's throaty voice layered over the top. There is a special appearance by UK ska/punk/oi band The Filaments Jonny One Lung on the track as well, providing vocals for one verse. The City In Strategic Retreat is an attack on the fat cats in the business world. More punk by the numbers stuff here but I think the big aim of the song is to make people realise that all is not right in the world and asking how can we live with ourselves because of it. The penultimate song on the album is the fast and furious Steal The Key. This is one minute and twenty-five seconds of unrelenting punk rock aggression. Despite all the anger in the tone of the song the message is actually a positive one. It's about breaking out of the shackles that are holding you back and living your life the way you want to. Finally we have a song titled Central Standard Time. This feels like another barroom anthem slowly plodding along until the final chorus bursts into life.

The Regressives have come out of nowhere with this release. Street Punk feels like a genre that is on the decline, with gravelly voiced melodic punk rock being in vogue at the moment so hearing something different and so good is an absolute pleasure. A band to keep your eyes on.

Stream and buy The Regressives here: https://theregressives.bandcamp.com/album/the-regressives 

Like The Regressives here: https://www.facebook.com/TheRegressives?fref=ts 

Now listening to Albuquerque Low by Elway

Album Reviews: Leagues Below by The Octopussys

Today's review is of Belgian pop punks The Octopussys new album Leagues Below. Since forming in 2005 The Octopussys have aimed to deliver the perfect summer punk rock soundtrack with great riffs, melodies and instantly sing-able lyrics. 

The first track on Leagues below is named Halfway Around The World. The opening chords of the song are energetic and from the start you know this album is going to be good fun. Naturally, this being a pop punk record, the song is about girls. This one is about getting over one after being lead on for a long time. I'm sure we can all relate to this. The melody in the chorus is great for making a crowd want to jump up and down. Daddy Issues is about a girl who is insecure and makes terrible decisions because of this, and then the strain it puts on a relationship. This song really reminds me of a band named Rufio who were around in the early 2000's. Musically it's a hardcore crunchy pop punk mash up with some soaring high pitched vocals. The guitar work in the song Gone really stands out. The riff is fast and upbeat and makes me want to break out the air guitar. Vocally it's more controlled and helps to tell the story of the song. On first listen to the fourth song Don't Call Me Shirley straight away I thought that it had the sound of a classic 90's American teen comedy movie soundtrack. Then I had a good listen to the lyrics of the song and it turns out the song is an ode to all the great movies of the 80's. Ghostbusters, The Goonies, Die Hard, Terminator, Indiana Jones, Fast Times At Ridgemont High, Ferris Bueller, The Breakfast Club, Gremlins, Teenwolf and Back To The Future amongst others.

Cut The Ties is a song about the place you grew up changing and being brave enough to move on to better things. It's a slower paced song but is full of hooks. The tune is bouncy and the lyrics are hugely catch and insightful. Oblivious brings us to the halfway point of the album and is a song about not knowing what you have until it's gone. The tone of this track feels a lot more serious than the previous efforts but never really hit's any big highs or lows to keep me interested the whole way through. Ink's For Squids is my favourite song on Leagues Below. It's a fun little song about being too scared to get a tattoo. Lead singer Thibaut Hox tells us the story of the time he went to get a tattoo but chickened out in the end. This subject matter is a first for me, in all of my years listening obsessively to punk rock music I can't say I've ever heard a song about not getting tattoos. Ten points for originality. The eighth song Groundhog Day is about changing the past if you were able to go back in time. Musically this song has more of a skate punk feel to it with some super poppy vocals on top. I like a song that makes me think about things and Groundhog Day certainly falls into that category. 

Take A Hike is another fun little song about a subject I can't believe any band ever has ever written a song about - Nordic Walking. This is a very poppy song, but what else would you expect when a song has such silly lyrics as "People Laugh When They See Us Passing, They're Jealous Because Our Buns Are Nice And Tight, From All Of The Outdoor Action We Are Getting." It's stupid but it's a lot of fun. Beer Me Up is a short song about feeling too old to enjoy yourself at a gig. The track finishes just as quickly as it begins and barely pauses for breath throughout. Nick Boonen's drumming really stands out on Beer Me Up, it's hard hitting and really powers the song along. Friendly Fire is all about friendship and no matter what scraps, mishaps and shenanigans you get yourself in a good friend will always have your back. For a song that is about friendship I would have liked to hear more gang vocals on the chorus, there's some subtle harmonies but I would have preferred a big shouty gang vocal finish on the song. I did really like the opportunity for bass player Mark Bolsens to play a small solo, that man has some skills. The final song on Leagues Below is named Not Your Problem. The track starts in quite a surprising fashion with a little bit of guitar feedback we haven't yet heard on the album. I'm not sure if the band are being serious or a bit tongue in cheek with their message in this song. It's about running from all of your responsibilities and problems and living carefree as long as you can. I see the message as being a bit of a release from the real world, about singing about what you ultimately would want to do but know you shouldn't actually. Maybe it's a way to be therapeutic on a certain situation? Maybe I'm clutching at straws?

Leagues Below is definitely a step up in song writing from The Octopussys previous album Face The World. I enjoyed Face The World but felt there were too many songs about girls and love on it so it's a pleasure to hear the band touch on some different subjects. I think if I had heard this album ten years ago it definitely would have been the soundtrack to my summer but it is also very enjoyable at my grand old age of 29.

Stream and buy Leagues Below here: https://theoctopussys.bandcamp.com/

Like The Octopussys here: https://www.facebook.com/octopunkrock