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Brooklyn Based Hardcore Act MAAFA Releases Track-By-Track Breakdown of Upcoming Debut Album “Because We Are”

NYC hardcore act MAAFA are releasing their debut full length album Because We Are this coming Juneteenth on Fuzz Therapy Records and to get you hyped for that impending release, the bad-ass Brooklynites sent over a track-by-track breakdown, giving insight into their writing process and the inspiration for each song. Read through this exclusive ‘peek […]

NYC hardcore act MAAFA are releasing their debut full length album Because We Are this coming Juneteenth on Fuzz Therapy Records and to get you hyped for that impending release, the bad-ass Brooklynites sent over a track-by-track breakdown, giving insight into their writing process and the inspiration for each song. Read through this exclusive ‘peek behind the curtain’ provided by lead vocalist and lyricist Flora Lucini whilst enjoying their latest Single ‘Welfare’ and remember to snag the LP on Tuesday!

1. “Origém (Intro) 

The word “origém” translates to “Origin” in Portuguese and it is also the name of my father, Leonardo Lucini’s (Bassist/Composer) Brazilian Jazz band which he shares with my Uncle Alejandro Lucini (Drums/Composer.) For their album, they used their grandmother, Dora Muniz’s, painting (she was a painter) as their album cover. She thankfully lived long enough for me to spend time and live with her before her passing when I was a kid. Every morning before school I would sit next to her while she painted at our breakfast table. So, the artwork in the album for the page dedicated to this song is of one of her original paintings. 

When I started MAAFA, I knew that I wanted to incorporate/reference these influences on the record and tribute my paternal family, but I also wanted to tribute my maternal family as well which leads to the music. 

Originally the song had a sample of this style of music called “Tambor De Crioula” from my mother’s hometown in the northeast of Brazil São Luis, Maranhão. Which both myself and all the women in my family grew up dancing and participating in. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get permissions for that sample in time for this release. It was going to start with that sample from Brazil into the intro with Batá that you hear on the track now, to showcase the similarities and connection of the traditions through its African origins.  

The Batá drums and rhythm on this track reminds me of the instrumentation and even some of the drum patterns found in Tambor de crioula. It’s very similar in the sense that both traditions use 3 double headed drums, “small, medium and large” that are all assigned different functions and both traditions are African Traditions brought through “THE MAAFA” to Brazil and Cuba (then to other parts of the diaspora later) and used traditionally in African traditional religious ceremonies. This was one of the ways to incorporate a tribute to my mother’s hometown as well. All the references from the album art to the actual musical styles point to my “Origins” in some way. 

I also split playing the bass on this track with my Bassist Ray Russell. He plays the majority of the bass lines on the intro and I play the Tumbão Groove in the second half of the “Batá” section in the intro. 

2. Welfare

This was the first song I ever wrote specifically for MAAFA. The lyrics really embodied where I was/still am politically and in terms of what I wanted the message of this first record to convey. 

I wrote all the songs on this album on classical/acoustic guitar because I couldn’t afford an electric one at the time. I also just write everything on acoustic LOL. 

Welfare was not intended to be an “anthem” like song but it has definitely grown to that. I was trying moreso to mash up some of the more traditional styles of Hardcore and Punk into one song while the lyrics ushered in a perspective that called out a lot of the more problematic ideologies that plagued/continue to plague both our scene and our society, seeing as how music is a reflection of culture. 

3. Deficit

The intro to Deficit was written before the song was. I had this idea for the intro after being inspired by a call and response pattern I had heard in an African Drum and Dance class in 2008. I slowed it waaaay down and translated the inspo from it into a heavier style. I had always heard Kora in the intro too and am so glad it worked out where the professor of the class, Amadou Kouyaté, who is also my friend of almost 20 years and is one of the original members of MAAFA is playing Kora in the intro. He is also playing a series of drums such as 2 Djembes, Dudunba, Sangban, Segesege and more. This same Djembe pattern repeats in the outro and slows down even more as it transitions to a more typical “beatdown hardcore” feel which is when the gang vocals start screaming “Reclaiming my time.”

I wrote the lyrics after a frustrating experience with a former colleague who kept abusing their access to me by constantly bombarding me with requests to correct their problematic behavior, specifically around racism and homophobia. They never asked me, they demanded, they never offered to pay me for my intellectual labor, they never gave me credit for said labor and the entire interaction was transactional and unwarranted. Just kind of kept messaging me over and over again until finally I had to block them.

This led me to reflect on the history of QTBIPOC interactions with folks like that, especially sense this happned during the height of social unrest around the murdering of unarmed Black folk. It remonded me of how often we all are constantly being put in positions like this to do all this labor and are expected to do it for free. 

This song was written in 2017/2018, around the time that U.S. Representative Maxine Waters (a Black Woman)  went viral for standing up to her problematic colleagues in government by “Reclaiming Her Time” during a house committee meeting.  She was coined #AuntieMaxine shortly after. The visual of a Black Woman in power stating “I’m Reclaiming My Time” from problematic “colleagues” fit perfectly with the messaging of this song. It’s really about paying BIPOC for their labor, self-advocacy, boundaries and self-care.

3. Libation

There is a theme about water here: cleansing, ritual, baptism, sacrifice, rebirth, death, legacy, tribute and worship. Libation is a reflection on the legacy of what our ancestors have left for us and what we are responsible to build moving forward as the descendants/survivors of Chattel Slavery. It’s about ancestral worship, ancestral memory, a moment to reflect on our loved ones who have passed. 

It is part poem, part prayer, part ritual and of course, part call to action.   

I wanted to give myself space to write a song both musically and lyrically where I can depart from the typical lyrical styles and song structures we find in Hardcore but while still pulling from influences like Spoken word, Reggae and Hip-Hop influenced-Hardcore. For example, Lyrics like “Black is the river now. So much flesh in the waters, the waters have changed.” Was inspired by a statistic I read that said so many African bodies were thrown overboard into the Atlantic Ocean during the middle passages/ The Maafa, that it changed the temperature of the water forever. 

Naming the song “Libation” was inspired by the history of the Black American ritual that some of us do when one of our loved ones passes away i.e. “Pour one out for our homies” and the fact that some in the States who practice that and learned that from Hip-Hop didn’t or don’t know that pouring Libation is African Ancestral Memory, it can be traced back to many of our ancestral nations on the continent as an important ritual across many religions and cultures it is also not exclusive to Indigenous African Nations but also to Indigenous Nations in the West. It has been said that for many Africans & her descendants “Nothing important happens without Libation.”

I am of Yoruba (Nigerian) descent, and a lot of the lyrics reference ritual/aesthetics still present throughout my family and that can be found in some African Traditional Religions (ATR’s for short) such as Black American Hoodoo/Brazilian Candomblé, Cuban Lucumí/Lukumi etc. But also Black American Christianity/Southern Baptist + Pentecostal references. 

I wanted the overall feel to take the listener on a journey and for it to be like spoken word meets hip hop influenced hardcore in the verses then the Reggae part allows you to meditate then finally resolving on a metal/opera like ceremonial vibe that centers hope in the end. 

It was important to me to make a moment for meditation that musically centered the real, Black African tradition of Reggae. The whole song touches on the connection of the spiritual and the political being in balance for true resistance. Which we see in historical victories such as The Haitian revolution, for ex. Very rarely do I hear true stories about uprisings and revolts of enslaved Africans where we did not seek the guidance of our ancestors and the spirit world/our religions to see them through. 

All the way to the civil rights movement and how a lot of organizing happened in the church, (regardless if everyone was actually Christian or not.) So many of our diasporic African religions are practiced under the guise of Abrahamic Religions because we were forced to hide our practices during enslavement. Take the saints of Catholicism for example (i.e. where “santeria” came from and that many feel should not be the appropriate term to use) in order to avoid being murdered by slave owners because our religions were considered “savage, primitive and of the white Judeo-Christian Devil.” Our political resistance and our god(s) have always and to this day remain connected for many of us (with all due respect to our very powerful atheist siblings who fight very hard on the frontlines and some even while trying to heal from religious trauma) and this song sheds light on that. Which is what “Libation” is really about: how the spiritual and political are connected when it comes to our living, our afterlife and our fight here on earth against systemic oppression and religious (ATR) prosecution.

The breakdown pays tribute to the traditional Rastafari community I grew up around in D.C that are responsible for some of my earliest exposure to Pan-Africanism and Militant Black Liberation Politics very early on in life.

The end of the song is an extension of the meditative reggae break, but the vibe changes into a more metal influenced, almost operatic style to evoke the feeling of a ceremony/ritual chant for the hope of where we are headed as a people and that the deaths of our ancestors were not in vain, instead their legacies fuel our resistance and our “big dreams” to this day. One that factors in the entirety of our history and “The Legacy They Left Here for Us” (the very last line of the song) a lot of our traditions teach us that when we die we then are promoted to “ancestor” and have to begin our duties as an ancestors over our descendants that are still here on earth. The overall feel is about hope and how we must carry on to a better world, which is a great segue into the next song “A Luta Continua.”

5. A Luta Continua (Interlude)

“A Luta Continua” translates to “The fight goes on” in Portuguese. This interlude was an instrumental bass and percussion duet I wrote and am performing on. It is a duet featuring me playing the bass (everything you hear on this track that is not vocals or percussion is the bass. There are no guitars) and me singing/harmonizing with myself. The only other musical instruments are Traditional Brazilian percussion played by my friend Everton Isidoro who is also from Brasil. The style of music is a mix of Traditional Capoeira percussion & rhythm and the lead Bass lines were inspired by a style called Baião .

Overlayed is a sample of Councilwoman Marielle Franco’s speech (SPEECH HERE) at a hearing on violence against women in the Favelas, given about a week before she was assassinated. This interlude is to usher in the song “Filha Da Luta” that also features Afro-Brazilian Musical elements. 

6. Filha Da Luta

“Filha da luta” translates to “Daughter of the fight” in Portuguese and is a saying I saw become popular on protest signs during uprising against Bolsonaro’s election and when Marielle was assassinated. “Filha da luta” is a play on words for the insult “Filha da puta” (which translates to what in the U.S. we would say “son (Filho) of a bitch” but in this case it’s daughter(filha) of a bitch lol) activists changed it from the cuss word “Puta” to “Luta” which means fight. “Puta” is also a misogynistic slur in Portuguese for Slut/Whore. 

The song’s intro features a rhythm called “Samba-Reggae” that is very popular in Brazil during carnival especially in the northeast of Brazil so places like my mommy’s hometown and Bahia, considered the “Black state of Brazil” which has similarities we can find in some Afro-Caribbean cultures. 

My friend Everton recorded the Brazilian percussion for this song as well, he played a bunch of the traditional instruments that go along with this style like the surdo, agogo, pandeiro, atabaque and more. 

The choruses and the breakdown at the end features a rhythm that is very dear to my heart called “Afoxé”  (Here’s a video of my cover of that Afoxé song I arranged, choreographed and sang for Harry Belafonte at my Almer Mater, Berklee College of Music) which is an African-Brazilian Rhythm that my dad uses a lot in his songwriting and which has a long history with Black resistance and enslaved African uprising during the Maafa. It is also a rhythm that primarily is used in religious ceremonies and rituals in the ATR- candomblé. (Video of my uncle and friends back home in DC playing Afoxé)

I dedicate this song to Marielle every time we play it live and to all Black/Brown, Non-Cishet male activists globally that we’ve lost and whom are still here fighting and organizing. 

7. Not Your Exotic (CW: Sexual Assault) 

The inspiration for this song’s title and for some of its lyrics is the poem “Not your erotic, Not your exotic” by Palestenian-New Yorker poet, Suheir Hammad. She and I have become really good friends after I wrote this song when one of her homies happened to come to one of our shows and connected us. This poem changed my life and finally made me feel “seen” and most importantly she found the words I had such a hard time formulating over the years. It unlocked my voice about this issue, and I owe it all to her. 

The song is simple, straight to the point heavy punk rock. I wanted to write a groovy, still “Maafa” style punk song, that emphasized the lyrics more than anything else. 

The lyrics are about the violence that Women/Femme identified and presenting Black and Brown people like me face from being hypersexualized/fetishized/Other’ed etc. 

Hypersexualized for being a Black Woman, A Brazilian woman, lightskinned/mixed race presenting Woman/ for my body type etc. You name it! We’ve heard all the gross and highly offensive things “Spicy, Sassy, pretty for a Black girl, Pretty for a fat girl etc.” my darkskinned siblings have to then add colorism on top of that like “Pretty for a Darkskinned girl” or fetishized statements like “You’re the Only/first Black/Fat/Brazilian etc. Girl I’ve ever been with/liked” etc. or “why are you so Angry/Emotional/Hysterical/Crazy/Irrational/Sensitive/Moody” etc…AND the FAVORITE one they use for Black Women: “You have an attitude.”  

The album art for this song features the song title super imposed over a picture of one of the signs used to announce the auction/arrival of an enslaved Black Woman named Sarah Baartman aka Venus Hottentot who was enslaved and treated by her capturers as like a zoo animal they paraded around the world naked, on display like a circus freak show/side show so that white people can come and stare and violate at her “exotic” body. (This is a gross over simplification of her life and legacy, due to the sake of time.)

It’s wild to think this actually happened and that a body type that is extremely common amongst Black and some Brown folk (and that she and I both share similarities with) is somehow “exotic” and “freak-ish” “abnormal” or a “deformation/illness” that it needed to be literally caged and put on display. 

DISGUSTED is the first word that should come to mind, which is exactly how I feel and how many folks like me feel regularly. Sexual harassment is part of my everyday life. My safety is something I have to factor in when I get dressed, what time I leave my house, what kind of clothes I want to wear or go shopping for etc. Shopping is a lot of “Damn, I shouldn’t wear that, I COULD GET HURT.”  I have been assaulted more times than I can count, I haven’t taken the subway alone in 6 years because I was sexually assaulted on the train 3 times in broad daylight. 

I, like many BIPOC femmes, have survived sexual assault, being followed to my house, to my car, to public bathrooms, physically sexually assaulted at shows, cat-called on the street, etc.  My friends have to literally make sure I make it home all the way in the door when dropping me off in an Uber. I’m required to check in via messages with my homies as soon as I’m in the house just so they know I’m ok and they are also required to do the same. None of us drive off until everyone is inside their homes with the doors locked and accounted for in the group chat. If one of us forgets to check in, we can absolutely expect several missed calls the next morning. 

In fact some of my girlfriends and I have a group chat that we all send “I’m home” or “I’m on so and so street, with so and so, his/her/their license is…and I’m wearing…. etc.” even though we all live in different states. We all have access to our parent’s/spouses’ information, address, emergency contacts etc. and we all carry emergency contact and information cards with info like “I’m allergic to penicillin.”

Having to live like this since I was little which was taught to us by our mothers/sisters/elders/community and theirs to them and so on for survival, is absolutely normalized. And this song feels like a collective “exhale” for 2 minutes and some change that we can all take and scream all the pain and frustration we feel that is constantly being dismissed. 

NOTE: Most CisHet masculine Men and Boys NOT having to ever think about stuff like this is a type of privilege I speak about in “Welfare”: “To Inhabit your skin without fear (white privilege) / To inhabit your body without shame (Fatphobia/skinny privilege/Masculine body privilege) / To love who you want (Hetereosexual Privilege) /  TO WALK AT NIGHT ALONE (that part) / To be standing on the outside looking in / THAT’S PRIVILEGE!” 

8. For The Culture

My hometown here in the states is Washington, DC. And D.C. has its own original style of music called GO-GO that I grew up on. Go-Go and D.C. Hardcore have a lot of history together and sometimes , many many moons ago traditional Go-Go bands would play Hardcore shows.  

So this song musically is a love letter to my hometown. Go-Go, like Hardcore, has also evolved tremendously; for example, THIS is one example of what modern Go-Go can sound like with more rock influences. I love everything about Go-Go, especially all the obvious ancestral memory you see in every element, down to its own dance called “BEAT YA FEET.”

The artwork on the album for this song depicts the Bucket drummers that perform at the metro stations in DC that I also grew up listening and dancing to – also another example of ancestral memory. 

“For The Culture” is a phrase some Black folks use when we are acknowledging something that is being done strictly for the sake and the betterment of Black culture and Black people. 

The lyrics are calling out gentrification, posers and people that want to exploit how “trendy” being Black and “punk” or “alternative” is now a days all of a sudden. When most of us grew up getting beat up or harassed for listening to “White people music” and it was actually dangerous for us to “dress punk” back in the day. Oftentimes the violence came from our own people as well as racists that we faced at shows, so we caught it from both ends. But now a lot of those same people want to dress like us and study what we’re doing in our scenes cuz they think it’s “cool and trendy.”

The song was inspired from my rage against corporate “alternative music” festivals that exploit the word PUNK and the people in the community in order to chase “clout” and be trendy, when their festivals have absolutely nothing to do with our communities and do nothing but erase actual Black punks and Hardcore kids like Maafa and our sibling bands.

9. Dichotomy

This is my break up song, but you know I can’t do a break up song without making it political lol. Relationships bring out things in you in a way that only they can, because of the unique things it forces us to face when having to deal with other people in a romantic way, like during talks about the future, children, expectations etc. It will bring up your own traumas and sometimes your partner can treat you so badly that they become a trauma themselves that you’re forced to heal from. Which is in part what happened here as well: this was written after I got out of an abusive relationship.

Things like infidelity & betrayal trauma are also experiences that inspired this song. It’s my most vulnerable song & most personal.

Basically, the inspo for this song is how a break up was the catalyst to my journey with mental health that saved my life and how during that journey the issue of mental health in the Black community came up i.e. still not having a therapist or the right meds because they’re low income; how HR from Bad Brains is/was treated/talked about during his battle with mental health; and the stigma in the Black community around mental illness and seeking help, especially amongst Black men. 

My experience with depression and anxiety during this period felt like I was possessed by a demon or something really dark that had more control over me than I did so there are moments in the lyrics that reflect that down to the very last line that says, “Release Me, Please,” as if pleading with the demon to exorcise itself from my mind/body. But the song is also about healing and about taking control and responsibility for my healing which is how I reclaimed my power over the “demon.” Which is also reflected in the lyrics and in the aesthetic of the album art depicting items one would find in an apothecary to symbolize healing with medicine and healing with spiritual/religious ritual. 
My parents and I are best friends and my father is my guide post in all things “life.”  So to tribute him and how much he supported me during that time I made the song’s intro my interpretation of the intro and outro of my dad’s song “PEGA” – the sample is from the outro of the video in that link, so the Jazz sample at the end of the song is actually my dad and his band playing.

10. Blindspot 

White boys get to make angry chugga chugga music to “bitch” about the things they hate all the time and they get praised for it, even though 99.99999% of the time the things they sing about hating are people and ideas that are different than them. They also love to gatekeep Hardcore for white straight men who are hyper masculine and violent. Well, this is MY angry chugga chugga song about the things I hate the most which are problematic white boys who make chugga chugga Hardcore and are put in a position of power to control the entire narrative of who and what Hardcore is and looks like and then, being true to their nature, they cry victim and get defensive when someone calls them out on how they protect and perpetuate harmful ideologies and behaviours in our scene. Hence: DECOLONIZE HARDCORE. 

Now, I absolutely love and grew up on chugga chugga hardcore MUSIC* ( i.e. Beatdown Hardcore/ Traditional NYHC/ or my favorite as I like to call it “That Castle Heights shit” lol) so I’m not coming at the music, I’m critiquing SOME of the bands and their content, who are really the minority in the scene but because of privilege and supremacy are glamourized as not only the majority, when they’re not, but as the only “true” definition of Hardcore. As I often say, it’s “bullshiterious.” (I got that from a Black Feminist FB group) 

Decolonizing Hardcore is also about reminding Black people in our scene and those who are new to our scene that they should NEVER have to negate their Blackness to be here. Manipulate their appearnce or the way they “talk”  just to “assimilate.” That it’s about re-educating my own people about the Black history of Hardcore and Punk, that everything hardcore is and stands on comes from Black people who invented rock n roll, call and response, oral history keeping, communicating through dance without words, singalongs and pile-ups and spinkicks. 

OUR FOOTPRINTS AND EXCELLENCE ARE EVERYWHERE and in EVERY INCH OF THIS CULTURE. 

This is a house our ancestors built for us too, we are not guests here, this is part of our birthright and if anything, like any other subculture, it’s usually the descendants of our colonizers and the ones who benefit from white privilege who are the “guests.” 

Decolonizing Hardcore is about centering the QTBIPOC presence visibly and loudly and unapologetically reclaiming not just our time but our rhythms, our dances, our styles, our languages, our lands, our spaces and our scene.

NOTES
Batá Drums, Yoruba Tradition, Babalawo, Lucumi religion (aka Santeria, we do not Call it Santeria because that term is a colonial term and can be seen as offensive. The actual name of the tradition is called “Lucumi”or “Lukumi” Loo-koo-me)

The Batá drum is a double-headed drum shaped like an hourglass[1] with one end larger than the other. The percussion instrument is still used for its original purpose as it is one of the most important drums in the yoruba land and used for traditional and religious activities among the Yoruba.[2][3] Batá drums have been used in the religion known as Santería in Cuba since the 1800s, and in Puerto Rico and the United States since the 1950s.[4][5] Today, they are also used for semi-religious musical entertainment in Nigeria and in secular, popular music. The early function of the batá was as a drum of different gods, of royalty, of ancestors and a drum of politicians, impacting all spheres of life in Yoruba land.[6][7]

The drummers on Batá and Djembe for the intro song. One of them is Jabari Exum. He and our Friend Amadou Kouyate who is not only my former mentor but my former professor and one of my best friends and is an original and current member of MAAFA, he is on this album, they both were best friends with Chadwick Boseman from The Black Panther Movies (Wakanda Forever) so when it came time to make those movies Chadwick hired Jabari as choreographer, Lead Djembefola and to be his right hand man meaning every time he was on set, at a red carpet etc. Jabari, who is on this album, was playing Djembe next to Chadwick. Jabari was also in both movies in several Djembe scenes and as an extra in a few scenes in the second movie. 

by Staff Writer AnarchoPunk.LA
Tags: 
Afro-punk brooklyn Hardcore NYC

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Dave Hause – “Drive It Like It’s Stolen”

Drive It Like It's Stolen - Dave Hause

Release Date: April 28, 2023 Record Label: Blood Harmony Release Type: AlbumBandcamp Link: Listen on Bandcamp
Tags: 
dave hause drive it like it's stolen Solo album the loved ones

Dave Hause‘s new album Drive It Like It’s Stolen is out now! This 10-song LP is the Loved Ones frontman’s sixth solo effort. Listen below and get it on vinyl (or CD!) here.

Upcoming Releases

Coffin Salesman 11-01-2024
“Dream Of Fire” Unsigned
Drug Church 10-04-2024
“PRUDE” Pure Noise Entertaniment
No Guidance 09-21-2024
“Late To The Party” Thousand Islands Records

DS Album Review: Fool’s Errand – “Big Up The Impact

If your soul begs to chant “Oi!” while grizzled men shout about the world’s problems then the new Fool’s Errand record will be right up your alley. Big Up The Impact is an explosive album that comes in loud and within 33-ish minutes is back on its merry way. Fool’s Errand hails from Las Vegas […]

If your soul begs to chant “Oi!” while grizzled men shout about the world’s problems then the new Fool’s Errand record will be right up your alley. Big Up The Impact is an explosive album that comes in loud and within 33-ish minutes is back on its merry way. Fool’s Errand hails from Las Vegas but their sound takes me to somewhere in an East Coast urban sprawl full of those cabbie hats and the smell of whiskey.

“It’s a Problem” is a catchy opening track, a memorable opening riff draws you in before setting the tone, “Sometimes this high can get me so low, try to resist it, that’s a no-go // I found a message in a bottle and it just said help me.” I like when an album opens with a track that just lays out how the singer is doing, really sets the tone for where their head is at for the album itself.

Then we’re off to the races with anthemic tracks like “Shit,” “Wrote you a song, it’s only 4 letters long. Easy for someone like you to recite” and “I Think I Like It!” which was an unexpectedly tender-hearted song lyric-wise: “One kiss is like a kick to the teeth, she only laughs when we’re disturbing the peace. This girl’ll be the death of me, but I think that I like it!“

Before I could process what was happening “Know What I Mean” had come and gone. If the song was a punch all I’d have to know it by was the ring impressions on my face. Lady Liberty stares down her nose at us in “Goin’ Back to Jersey” and we get a peek into what it feels like to feel alienated by the place you call home: “Lace up those boots, cuz we’re all goin’ down the Shore but our old stomping grounds don’t look the same and I’m not sure if I belong here anymore but I just can’t forget from where I came.”

This album has lots of themes of a world constantly changing around us, the rampant use of alcohol to tamp down the feelings caused by that same world, and the need to reach out to our friends and our loved ones during those uncertain times. My favorite track on the album “Lost a Friend” holds the same emotional poignancy, “Here’s to a new beginning, here’s to a bitter end. Here’s to the long walk on my own cuz I just lost a friend.” While we’re still mourning the spectres left in our memory we get angry; angry at the grind of working until your dead like in “The Good Life” or, like in the closing track “Not The Same,“ angry at the wolves in sheep’s clothing that hide amongst your friends and neighbors.

by Staff Writer Bobby Benedict
Tags: 
big up the impact fool's errand las vegas nevada Oi!

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DS Album Review: Hot Mulligan – “Why Would I Watch”

Hot Mulligan is well known for their buoyant pop-punk sound with an emo seriousness behind their lyrics. These guys have been a huge favorite of mine for so many years. Getting into the local scene, a lot of bands here seemed to pull inspiration for their sound from these guys (or bands similar to them). […]

Hot Mulligan is well known for their buoyant pop-punk sound with an emo seriousness behind their lyrics. These guys have been a huge favorite of mine for so many years. Getting into the local scene, a lot of bands here seemed to pull inspiration for their sound from these guys (or bands similar to them). They never fail to bring such a fun and upbeat tempo in their songs, despite having a song or two that start soft and then pick back up into the pop-punk sound we are familiar with from them. Why Would I Watch is an incredible album as far as lyrics go, throwing in a song about a lost pet that had me bawling in my car on my way to work one morning. Absolutely worth it.

This album kicks off with a decently long song title (as are many of their song titles, but whatever) called “Shouldn’t Have a Leg Hole But I Do”. It’s a very happy-go-lucky-sounding song that will throw you way back to the original pop-punk sounds that we all grew up with. I found myself finding this song almost familiar and comforting. They did a phenomenal job in capturing the “old sound” of pop-punk and going back to the roots of the genre (which will also be a recurring theme throughout the album). Lyrics for this song speak volumes on trying to escape a situation or leave something behind that you know you should and need to live your life for yourself, but something will always bring you right back until you face whatever it is that needs to be addressed.

Powering into the next track is a beautiful transition that tells the realities of life not going as you expect. “It’s a Family Movie She Hates Her Dad” is largely about breaking cycles and being aware of the toxicity that is to be able to change and grow from it. My biggest indicator of that is the more than relatable line in the song that jumped out at me where he sang, “Sit down and give me the confessional // Stay together for the kid // Isn’t that original?” Having been faced with that situation, this song hit home and had me hooked on the rest of the album to follow. The instrumentals of this track scream the classic and familiar sound of Hot Mulligan’s original tracks from when they formed in 2014. I love how consistent they’ve always seemed to be while making their music. Always staying somewhat in line with what they’ve always done, yet making it just different enough to keep us on our toes!

Moving into the next song, it almost has a sense of urgency in the tone of the entire thing. It really brings together the lyrics’ theme of just trying to survive in a world that’s so different from where you were. “And I Smoke” might be relatable for more of us than we may realize, just pay attention to the lyrics and see if you may find a sense of familiarity in the feelings this track has to offer. My personal favorite being almost the start of the song, 00:22 in he sings, “Move out, a new place that I don’t know // Its smallest details are unfamiliar // Sit in the shower until I feeI alone”. I moved to a new city I wasn’t super familiar with not too long ago and so this song really resonated with me on that. The unfamiliar and the fear of the unknown is a real thing to battle with when moving out and on your own, especially if you have children in tow.

The song that has everyone’s brains trying to process the way the band will have to announce it while on tour. “This Song is Called it’s Called What it’s Called” is one of my favorite tracks. It beings with soft instrumentals and vocals that bring the most comforting sounds I’ve heard from a punk band. Reminiscing on a few spotty memories, seemingly with a fond tone. Then 60 seconds in the realization hits that it’s all gone by in a blink of an eye and the time lost is nearly crippling. The regret of not doing things just slightly different and leaving things unsaid that could have changed the entire trajectory of your life. “Oh, there’s so much I would change // Take more pictures // Oh, I left so much to say // All the missed connections.” I think everyone can relate to this in one way or another and this band has got a serious knack for finding the perfect instrumentals to not only match the mood of the song, but also keep the listener engaged with their tempo changes and execution of the lyrical melody! Easily one of my favorite tracks on the album.

“No Shoes In The Coffee Shop (Or Socks)” is an upbeat song that kicks the vibe back up to a more fun and lighthearted feel, telling the story of looking back on what is expected to be an epic journey that ends up being filled with regrets. This title track has a deep undertone to it if you’re willing to listen close enough, and maybe you’ll catch the placement of the album’s title and appreciate its weight when you do! It’s followed by a slightly higher energy, good-vibed track named “Christ Alive My Toe Damnit Hurts”. It’s honestly about the back and forth of addiction and how hard it can truly be to ignore the intrusive thoughts that come across the mental when you’re trying to fight the urge of needing just one more. The admiration I have for artists like Hot Mulligan that have off-the-wall track names to go with songs that have a 50/50 shot of being deep and meaningful, or just a good chuckle with the randomness of the analogies chosen with no serious direction to be left open to interpretation.

Then we get to “Betty.” If you’re ready to bawl your eyes out to a beautifully soft and wholesome ballad to a best friend…this is it. I was completely blindsided by a single line around the 1:11 timestamp that had the waterworks start almost immediately. If you’ve ever had a pet, and had them cross that rainbow bridge without you, this song is going to have you severely deep in your feelings and reminiscing those best friends that you cherished once upon a time.

This song’s title is a bit deceiving. Maybe you’d read “Cock Party 2 (Better Than The First)” and think it’s going to be a heavy and upbeat track, like myself. Much to my pleasant surprise, this song starts out pretty low-key and mellow. Then I went back the second time through and really listened to and read the lyrics along with the track, finding the meaning behind it. Beautifully written, and something ALL of us pop punk babies who have grown up can easily relate to this. The first verse screaming the song’s meaning of growing up and wondering where the hell all the time went and how we wish we could just not be adults and see our missed childhood loved one(s) as if we didn’t have responsibilities to worry about now. “When did we stop laughing? // Feel sorry for us now // Paying rent, calling home again // Routine and tedium now.” Its ending having a very Panic At The Disco!-esque ending of emphasizing the last two lines almost word for word. It’s a beautiful punctual ending to the overall feel of the track.

“Shhhh! Golf Is On” is an immediate classic vibe of instrumentals for throwing us back into the nostalgic sound pool. Then it brings in the instrument that will spice up ANY band’s sound, the cowbell. The love I have for bands that find some clever way to incorporate the cowbell, let alone subtly and in an extremely tasteful manner, will have me applauding the artists every time. It only makes an appearance a few times throughout the track, so it isn’t an incessant sound they try to force to work throughout it, just enough to give it a unique and fun spin.

“Gans Media Retro Games” is a title I didn’t fully understand, which in turn made me immediately go check out the lyrics to maybe get a better understanding on how this song was going to maybe sound like. When I read them and found it was about blacking out and wondering if you’re the problem when things go wrong nights you don’t remember. The next morning regret being strong and trying to come to terms with figuring out the story to find the root of the problem. It’s definitely relatable for some people (I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a few nights like that myself) and the vibe of the song is upbeat, but with enough of the urgent and somber feel of realizing you just may be the problem due to how you choose to cope, was a strong play for them to throw so bluntly into a song. It’s absolutely admirable to see a song about trying to take accountability and get to the root of their issues.

This is one of those tracks that has an opening line that had me replaying it a time or three to make sure I heard it right. To say I was not expecting to hear “Sucking blood out of a canker sore” come out of Nathan’s mouth, had me double taking, then laughing a little bit. Then getting into the rest of the lyrics, they seem like they may just be gibberish with random meaning, but if you really listen, there are a few lines in there that hint at what the true meaning of the song is about. Watching a loved one deteriorate to a memory-stealing disease is never easy. I have loved ones who suffer from conditions and diseases that are similar and it’s taxing to your mind, your body, and even your soul.

“John “The Rock” Cena, Can You Smell What the Undertaker.” To be entirely honest I had no words when I saw this track title, just straight confusion. I assume that’s the entire point, but, as I mentioned before, these off-the-wall names are just leaving no room to even try to guess what it could bring to the table instrumentally or lyrically and I love the mystery. I’m not 100% positive about this interpretation that I’ve gathered from the song’s meaning, but it seems to be the toxic expectations of the organized religions in the world. It doesn’t name any specifically, but it touches on key points and the lyrics, to me, screamed the struggle to fit the mold of what the religion had for its followers and the intrusive thoughts that followed when you’ve been taught toxic “rules” to life based on how they think you’re supposed to live.

Overall this album is incredible. Nathan and the guys did a great job bringing us back to the original roots of punk and giving us that nostalgic feeling of being in middle and high school again blasting the artists who started it all. Three years was well worth the wait for this band to drop another solid vibed album that came with some deep and heavy topics that I wholeheartedly believe the world needed songs for. Beautifully done, Hot Mulligan, and we can’t wait to see what else you’ve got in store for us!

Why Would I Watch? was released everywhere on May 12th, 2023!

by Staff Writer Emily Bradford
Tags: 
emo Hot Mulligan Lansing michigan pop punk

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DS Album Review: Samiam – “Stowaway”

Holy shit I love this record… Okay, so I suppose that’s maybe not the most professional way to kick off an album review, but whatever. This is a punk rock website and reviewing albums isn’t exactly my profession in the technical sense… Anyway, let’s start over. Back in September of 2011, just a day before […]

Holy shit I love this record…

Okay, so I suppose that’s maybe not the most professional way to kick off an album review, but whatever. This is a punk rock website and reviewing albums isn’t exactly my profession in the technical sense… Anyway, let’s start over.

Back in September of 2011, just a day before my 32nd birthday, I had the privilege of reviewing the then-brand-new and incredibly stellar Samiam album Trips. I loved it. I loved everything about it. It finished the year right near the top of my Best of 2011 albums list, and if I were to rerank that list a dozen years later, it’s probably the album that holds up the best. Sometime after Trips was released, I remember commenting on some social media platform – I think it was MySpace honestly rofl – that hopefully it wouldn’t be another five years before the next new Samiam record (Trips is preceded in the Samiam discography by 2006’s Whatever’s Got You Down) and the band’s lead guitarist and artistic force Sergie Loobkoff just responded “LOL” or something like that. At the time, I interpreted that as “LOL, don’t worry, we won’t wait that long next time.” Yet here we are, just about a dozen full years later, and we’ve finally got the follow up to Trips in our midst. It’s called Stowaway and it’s out this Friday (March 31st) on Pure Noise Records and saying that it was worth the wait is a bit of hyperbole because I wish we didn’t have to wait 11.5 years…but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t worth the wait.

Stowaway kicks off with “Lake Speed,” a track whose introductory air-raid siren dive bombs are soon met with a frenetic energy that shows that musically, Samiam have not only not lost a step but are in fact as charged-up as ever. It’s as tight and concise a post-hardcore-style ripper as you’ll find in the Samiam catalog complete with a pretty awesome guest spot from *SPOILER ALERT* none other than Hot Water Music’s Chris Wollard. It’s a damn-near perfect track, with Wollard and Samiam frontman Jason Beebout layering their unique voices over Loobkoff and Sean Kennerly’s dizzying guitar runs while the comparatively new rhythm section of Colin Brooks (drums) and Chad Darby (bass – more on that later) push a blistering pace. The whole thing is controlled chaos and creates the sense that it could careen off the rails at any moment, but then it’s over somehow just as quickly as it began. (Oh, and its lyrical tip of the cap to the longtime NASCAR driver with whom it shares its name is just the icing on the proverbial cake).

“Lake Speed” gives way to “Crystallized,” one of the three singles that was put out in the leadup to the album’s release. In many ways, it’s a perfect single: it’s got a big, classic Samiam sound that’s been charged up by Brooks and Darby the latter of whom you may recognize from his time in one of Chris Wollard’s other projects, Ship Thieves. If you’re an astute follower of Dying Scene, you’ll recall the time that he and Wollard joined us on the (*both laugh*) podcast, during which he may or may not have indicated that he was working with Samiam on new music and may have short-circuited my brain in the process…

“Lights Out, Little Hustler” follows and continues in the vein of charged-up, instant classic Samiam tunes. Oodles of vocal harmonies adorn the verses before frontman Jason Beebout’s inimitable voice powers through on the powerful, introspective singalong chorus. “Shoulda Stayed” would have been right at home on 120 Minutes or on a certain skateboard-inspired videogame series in a previous decade, as do the chunky guitar in the verses of “Shut Down.” “Scout Knife” features another appearance from Wollard, which makes sense given that some of the album’s components were recorded at Gainesville’s Black Bear Studios with frequent HWM/Ship Thieves collaborator Ryan Williams.

“Monterey Canyon” features probably the album’s best examples of the Loobkoff’s trademark single-note atmospheric divebomb melody lines. “Natural Disasters” is maybe the brightest sounding track on the album to this point, in some ways belying the songs vocals which, if taken literally, lament that the damage we’ve done to our home planet is probably irreparable at this point. “Stanley” is a fun song with a lot of different stylistic layers and sonic textures. “Highwire” starts somewhat down tempo for a Samiam song but turns itself into a a bombastic anthem with what are probably Beebout’s most soaring vocal performance. “Something” is a sneaky contender for my favorite track on the album that isn’t called “Lake Speed.” It’s a no-nonsense, four-on-the-floor, downstroke heavy punk rock ripper with Loobkoff and Kennerly again trading catchy guitar melodies over an even catchier shoutalong outro. The title track closes out the festivities in a way that probably best encapsulates all of the album’s different layers and textures and sonic directions in one four-minute package.

There has been talk at times over the years since Trips that part of the reason that there wasn’t new Samiam music was due to concern over whether or not Beebout still wanted to sing and to write new lyrics; there’s a quote out there somewhere about “maybe people over the age of 50 should admit they’re probably too old to be in the music business” I think. To state it emphatically and for the record, I’m really glad he decided to keep at it. Beebout’s voice has long been one of the most powerful and unique in the game and that’s just as true a statement now on Stowaway as it was at any other point in the band’s thirty-five year tenure. There’s a feeling and an urgency and an introspection and a devilish humor in both his vocals and his lyrics that are unmatched and that have the ability to provoke both goosebumps and long, honest looks in the mirror, sometimes within the same song. See “Shut Down” or “Monterrey Canyon” on this one, for example. When added to Loobkoff and Kennerly’s urgent guitars and, lately, Brooks and Darby’s punishing grooves, it’s part and parcel to what makes Samiam Samiam after all this time. It’s fair to say that Stowaway will be tough to dislodge from the #1 spot on this year’s end-of best-of list, and it’s fair to say that if I revisit this album in another dozen years, when I’m in my mid-50s (woof…) it’ll still feel as vital and compelling as ever.

by Staff Writer jaystone
Tags: 
chad darby colin brooks jason beebout pure noise records samiam

  1. Samiam has been critically underrated and ignored almost shamefully, one of the best bands that never got better recognition, but anyone who is a true fan of the genre and knows them knows they deliver some of the best “no filler” albums that would give even someone in a vegetative state goosebumps. Right on, this is a perfect review. I was introduced to them via the album Billy back in the day and some of my fondest memories are hitting the pavement with a Walkman and skating to what would inevitably be the sandtrack to my life.

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DS Album Review: Sleep Token – “Take Me Back To Eden”

Sleep Token. Everyone knows their name by now, as they’ve taken the world by storm with their latest songs. The first 5 singles that they dropped in anticipation of the full release of Take Me Back To Eden gave us all a teaser that still left us blindsided by the incredible taste of the main […]

Sleep Token. Everyone knows their name by now, as they’ve taken the world by storm with their latest songs. The first 5 singles that they dropped in anticipation of the full release of Take Me Back To Eden gave us all a teaser that still left us blindsided by the incredible taste of the main course. Before getting into the review, I’ve got to be honest, I re-wrote this at LEAST three times. The third time restarting being because I got to experience Sleep Token at Aftershock 2023 from the front bar. Their set was incredible and to experience 5 out of the 12 songs from Take Me Back To Eden was easily something I’m never going to forget. I had the absolute pleasure of hearing 2 of my 3 favorite songs on the album and will keep those memories forever. The album is incredible to begin with, but to now have heard some of them live and know that Vessel sounds just as amazing live as he does on track makes it that much better in my opinion.

Getting to the review now, overall, I love this whole album. Cover to cover, this album flows so beautifully and makes me wish I knew how to do production stuff like this personally. They opened the set at Aftershock 2023 with “Chokehold”, which is how the album also starts. Easily one of my favorite songs on the album, musically and lyrically. Having someone in your life that you’re so infatuated with that you can say they’ve got a “chokehold” on you is an incredible, yet unnerving, feeling. I’m sure some can listen and relate to the song on some level, whether it be a passion, person, hobby, place, etc. There’s typically ONE thing most people can say has a hold on their love and affection to this seemingly extreme degree.

“The Summoning” came further in the set at Aftershock, but hit just as hard as it did when it took the world by storm last year. The lyrics of the song still ring true to many and had the entire crowd at Aftershock screaming along to the lyrics. This song’s seductive and sexy vibe makes it a crowd favorite and I don’t see it leaving their setlist for live shows for years to come. “Granite” is the third song up on the album and it brings a different perspective lyrically than a lot of the others. Speaking of a person who chose to take advantage of their loved one and treat them as though they are just another body in their world, and not someone who is supposed to mean the world to them. It’s a song that I fear many can relate to and I can say I, too, have been there.

“Aqua Regia” is a smooth and vibey song that gives the listener a nice buffer between the heavy and intense instrumentals of the previous tracks. The intensity of most of the tracks are greatly appreciated by many, I’m sure, but having these breathers that give us a nice little break from the intense heavy topics, and into a chill and calmer vibe. Then they launch you into “Vore.” One of the heaviest songs on the album for sure. I love to go listen to this song when I need to just sit back and let the music scream for me. It’s got a slightly haunting, yet angry and broken, feel to the vocals and it genuinely seems to help relieve some of my anger when I’ve had a bad experience/interaction in life since it hit the streaming services.

“Ascensionism” is easily my top favorite song on the album. I have loved telling people that it’s been my anthem since the album was released. Not only did the lyrics speak volumes to me, but they more or less describe an individual who desires both redemption and ascension, but at the same time, a longing to escape from reality with a person who understands them, and potentially even one that shares the same dark desires they have. Asking who made them like this to have them feel so “broken” and trying to show they understand who the individual is at their darkest. Inviting them to dance in the darkness they find themselves in together and take to the broken skies with their soulmate, hand in hand. It may be a hopeless romantic outlook on it, but this depiction is a large part of why I love it and it’s been my anthem since it hit our ears when the rest of the album dropped on May 19th.

“Are You Really Okay?” I’m sure had thousands of people bawling their eyes out and eating their comfort foods. I know I was at least once since the full album’s release and I will shamelessly admit that. Getting vulnerable, slow, and all around deep into those feelings like they did for this song, really hit home for many of us music lovers. If I really need a good cry, but I can’t quite figure out how to get it all out without waiting around for something to make me cry. I just throw on this song, and by the time he says the title for the first time, I’m bawling. 10/10 recommend if you need a good cry or just a wholesome song to listen to.

“The Apparition” is about two-thirds through the album and I love the low-key aspect of it, giving us a two out of three song breather from the heavy and intense instrumentals. It’s got some good higher notes that have beautiful orchestral music behind it and is a perfect segway into the next song, “DYWYTLM” (Do You Wish That You Loved Me). The low-key sound of “The Apparition” flows into “DYWTYLM” with such ease and keeps that slow and less intense instrumentals while bringing the lyrics back to a bit more of a relatable feel. There is one line in this song that resonates with me, though. At the 3:14 mark there’s a line where he sings “But I cannot hope to give you what I cannot give myself.” That line alone had me replaying the song a few times and really sitting with it and wondering how many people heard it and did the same. It’s a powerful reflection to have two-thirds of the way through the song, if you ask me.

Moving on to my last favorite song of the album, “Rain.” This song is about finding your soulmate and having their touch wash away all your problems, getting hurt by them was something you could deal with because they’ve got their hooks in you. Knowing it’s a two-person game and wanting to give what they’ll take and take what they’ll give. Having this feeling that you’ve come together for a reason and seeing them in your future has to be a fateful sign of your unification. Acknowledging that it could all just be a part of life’s game, but looking forward, you can swear they’ll be there. I’m in a spot in my life I can confidently say I can relate to the feeling of finding a soulmate, and that feeling was only solidified further getting to experience this song from front bar at the festival.

Now for the title track… “Take Me Back To Eden” was such a rollercoaster of a song. Genre-wise and lyrically. I love the analogies and the cryptic messages that seemed to be sprinkled throughout it. The song seems to be about wanting to go back to the start when life wasn’t confusing. Losing yourself and not knowing where you’re going can be disorienting and will absolutely send many into feeling like if they could just go back to the start of a situation or experience, then all would be fixed. It’s such an incredibly produced song and I’m absolutely impressed with the instrumentals’ seamless transitions throughout the track.

Last, but absolutely not least, “Euclid.” This song was an homage and revisit to a previous song in a previous album. If you’ve been listening to Sleep Token long enough, maybe you’ve heard the song “Night Does Not Belong To God” from Sundowning. This song has a very deep and heavy meaning behind it. This struggle with his relationship with Sleep and wanting its eternal embrace, but also having that person that he doesn’t want to leave. The back and forth in his head in accepting eternal sleep or pushing forward to continue on. Finding the beauty in the darkness and he’s handed over the darkness to his love to survive. At least, that’s my interpretation of it.

Overall, this whole album was a banger and I absolutely loved that they wrapped it up with a song that references another previous album/song. I’m not sure I’ve known a whole lot of artists to do that and it’s refreshing to hear something uncommon. Their multitude of genres and the seamless transitions into each style is mind-boggling and I am constantly recommending Sleep Token to anyone who will give them a chance.

You can stream Take Me Back To Eden on all streaming services as of May 19th!!

by Staff Writer Emily Bradford
Tags: 
england london metal progressive metal

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DS Album Review: The Deadly Gallows – “Ode II Gard”

A bouncy bass line opens the album as, instrument by instrument, the band begins to join into the energetic opening track “Weird Time” for Reno pirate punks The Deadly Gallows. It’s been over a decade since their last full-length album was released but the mood is set with staccato plucks of a frenetic banjo over […]

A bouncy bass line opens the album as, instrument by instrument, the band begins to join into the energetic opening track “Weird Time” for Reno pirate punks The Deadly Gallows. It’s been over a decade since their last full-length album was released but the mood is set with staccato plucks of a frenetic banjo over melodious accordion that paints a landscape over steady yet corybantic drums and washboard, only parted momentarily by a wailing guitar. All these players make a mad musical melee that reaches its crescendo almost as quickly as it built.

On Ode II Gard the Reno, NV octet uses basically everything but the kitchen sink to set a jaunty yet haunted rip through an album of mad marauder music recorded at Pus Caverns by Joe Johnston. The naming of the album is an ode to their late drummer Niels Odegard who passed away unexpectedly over the summer. This album is not a somber remembrance though, it’s a pirate party, and though I was not personally close to Niels it seems like a proper send-off.

The 8-member ensemble grooves to the second track “Decisions” which goes from a dark dance feel with growled lyrics about life decisions and regret to a faster section of soloing over a modern punk/dub rhythm that stabs at you with the hook of the music.

“Dead Man’s Tale” is a lament from the grave of a man who has been wronged which has the entire gang of instrumentalists shouting along “dead men do tell tales.” The following track “Madness” keeps the energy of the last track, and, even through the hectic fiddle from violinist  Alan Lyons, a gleam of optimism is shown in lines like “And all my friends, this is not the end, it’s just a one-way ride through hell and back again” which reframes the twisted world narrated by lead vocalist John Underwood.

We get more upbeat yet restless tracks like “Rise From the Depths” that serve the theatrical nature of this band, or songs like “Lockjaw”, which was first featured on their eponymous 2009 album, features some trombone work from Boss’ Daughter’s own Chris Fox, that add to the legend of this band. We get deeper subject matter about watching loved ones struggle with addiction in “Throw Your Life Away” which delivers gut punches rhythmically as well as lyrically in verses that bemoan the situation, “I find myself trying too hard to please you. I’ve had my fill of all of your evil treasons and all along, I still get dramatic scenes and we are all still wrong.”

As the album comes to a close we get two more rollicking tunes, “4AM” and “Seasick” the latter of which really shows off the cohesion of this crew. Call-and-answer vocals between Underwood and the gang he’s leading swagger around the song, and an ear-catching shared solo between violin and guitarist Hector Acevedo leads us back into the next verse before we are once again under the seasick supervision of Underwood in the chorus.

This is a fun album. Each individual member of this band brings depth through the chaos of it all. I’m a sucker for musical comedy and novelty songs, but The Deadly Gallows aren’t a one-off novelty, they’re weirdos and I love them. Call it what you want, pirate punk, guttergrass, antifolk, but if you like raucous gang vocal punk then this album has something for you.

by Staff Writer Bobby Benedict
Tags: 
Folk Punk independent john underwood nevada northern nevada

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DS Album Review: The Gaslight Anthem emerge from hiatus recharged on “History Books”

In the interest of full disclosure, The Gaslight Anthem has been on my short list of favorite bands for the better part of two decades. I think when I reviewed the latest Hold Steady record earlier this year, I think I mentioned how Gaslight/Brian Fallon and The Hold Steady/Craig Finn and Lucero/Ben Nichols and Dave […]

The Gaslight Anthem (l-r: Benny Horowitz, Alex Rosamilia, Brian Fallon, Alex Levine)
Photo cred: Casey McAllister

In the interest of full disclosure, The Gaslight Anthem has been on my short list of favorite bands for the better part of two decades. I think when I reviewed the latest Hold Steady record earlier this year, I think I mentioned how Gaslight/Brian Fallon and The Hold Steady/Craig Finn and Lucero/Ben Nichols and Dave Hause have essentially been my personal musical Mt. Rushmore for most of my adult life, particularly when viewed through the lens of bands that are in my generation. They aren’t one of the bands I grew up listening to in my parents’ house (read as: Springsteen and Seger and Mellencamp and Petty, etc) and they weren’t in that generation of bands like Pearl Jam and Soundgarden and Bad Religion that became “my” bands as a teenager. Instead, they were bands and voices that I felt like I grew up with; we shared similar age brackets and socioeconomic brackets and so they resonated on a level that is just different and more personal than the from my more formative years. At least I think that’s what I said.

I vividly remember not only where I was (my bedroom) but what I was doing (getting ready to drop my newborn off at daycare on the way to work) when I first saw the video for “The ’59 Sound” and vividly remember that visceral feeling that “ohhh…this is really good” that came over me. I followed them every step of the way and shot them a handful of times and have lyrics tattooed on me and got super starstruck the couple times I met Brian before I first actually met Brian. Hell, I even loved Get Hurt from the very, very first listen. And so I count myself as one of those who was sad when they went on hiatus (not sad enough to drive to Bridgeport, Connecticut, for their then-last US show…but almost that sad) and, conversely, super happy when they announced that they were getting back together.

But I’ll also be the first to admit that I was a little nervous when news of their comeback album, History Books, was released. Cautiously optimistic, sure, but still nervous, because you never really know how a band is going to function both internally and externally when they get back together. There isn’t really a lot of precedent in our area of the punk rock world for bands getting back together and putting out meaningful, listenable music after a seven-year break. And they certainly can’t be expected to have the same level of proverbial piss and vinegar or youthful energy that drew so many of us toward them in the first place…although neither are those of us who are now in our mid-forties.

And so I purposely avoided all advance coverage of History Books. I ended up sort of accidentally hearing the lead single “Positive Charge” in passing at a store and I think eventually on Spotify and I warmed to it immediately and listened to it again repeatedly but that just strengthened my resolve to avoid listening to the rest of the singles before I could do my typical old man routine of listening to the whole album in order, start to finish, as the good lord intended. (Side note: on a ten-song album, four advance singles seems like a lot.) I even avoided the Springsteen single. YES, I EVEN AVOIDED THE SPRINGSTEEN SINGLE.

And so last Friday, I saved up a bunch of my pennies and drove to the local record store and picked up a copy of History Books on something called purple smoke vinyl and I opened it up and it didn’t have a download code and I don’t have a record player in my Honda Accord, so I went online and plopped down some more of my pennies and bought a digital copy of the record and then I downloaded it and then I hit play and listened to it start to finish in the car. You know…as the good lord intended. I initially had the intention of reviewing the record in real time, making notes as I listened to it and summing it up at the end without much in the way of editing but, as you’ll recall, I was driving, and I’m okay with texting and driving at the red lights, but 2500 word album reviewing is a little much to do behind the wheel. So I let it play. And play again. And play again. And now I’ve listened to it so many times in the last seven days that it’s hard to still look at it as a new record. And that’s a good sign, because it means History Books is a great fit in the collection.

The album kicks off with “Spider Bites,” which is about as quintessential a Gaslight album opener as you can get. The intro hits hard and fast, the swirling, fuzzed out guitars over big, dynamic drums setting the tone right from the opening notes that a post-hiatus Gaslight Anthem is not going to relegate themselves to crafty veteran status. No, there is plenty of giddy-up on this collective fastball. The “and so we struggle/for each other” is a collective rallying cry that not only are the band back, but that they – and we – are all in this together.

“History Books” follows, and leans directly into the longstanding Springsteen comparisons by having The Boss himself take over lead vocal duties for the second verse. The subject matter is poignant coming from a Fallon who is reflecting on a lifetime of connections and acquaintances that he may want to leave in the rearview; it takes a particularly haunting tone when coming from Springsteen’s mouth, knowing how much time the latter has spent reflecting on – and grappling with – his own legacy and career in recent years. It must be a daunting task to have an icon such as Springsteen tell you to write a duet for you two to perform together, but I’d have to say Fallon nailed the tone and timbre necessary for the occasion.

“Autumn,” which is clearly the most Gaslight Anthemy-titled Gaslight Anthem song in the ouevre – at least since “Halloween,” I guess” – follows up and is the first of the album’s mid-tempo tracks. It’s got a fun shuffle to it that we haven’t heard on many a Gaslight track before. I like to think that there are three main styles for a traditional Gaslight Anthem song; there are the howling songs and there are the haunting songs that make up the comparative ends of the spectrum, with the mid-tempo ones occupying that center. Lead single “Positive Charge” is the third ‘howler’ of the bunch. It was probably the appropriate choice for lead single, for both musical and lyrical reasons. It leans most into that uptempo rock thing that Gaslight has made their wheelhouse for the better part of the last couple of decades. Benny Horowitz and Alex Levine locking down the tempo allowing for Rosamilia’s guitar to soar into and out of the anthemic choruses and outro.

With a story inspired by The Virgin Suicides – a book that I guess I should finally getting around to reading given that it’s been on my bookcase for two decades – “Michigan, 1975” quickly made its way onto the short list of my favorite Gaslight songs. It’s a sonic kin to TGA’s rendition of Fake Problems’ “Songs For Teenagers” that appeared on the Jersey foursome’s 2014 The B-Sides collection. It’s a haunting song from start to finish, rife with layered meaning and imagery. The hard-charging, descending riff and singalong pre-chorus in “Little Fires” might be my favorite moments on the album and the best examples of “ooh, this sounds like Gaslight Anthem, but it also sounds like a new wrinkle.” In the end, we all burn little fires. Yet another cathartic and life-affirming singalong outro.

Oh, and “Little Fires” has also got a super cool swirling guitar solo, which means this is probably a good time to give Alex Rosamilia his flowers. It sounds like he really had fun making this record. For my money, he’s long been the band’s unsung hero; his noodling runs providing a unique texture that helped make Gaslight Gaslight. In addition to “Little Fires,” it’s super evident on “History Books” and especially the reverb-heavy solo on “I Live In The Room Above Her.” The latter is another song dominated by big chunky riffs in the intro and the choruses and it’s held down by the underrated rhythm section of Benny Horowitz and Alex Levine through the verses. It manages to check both the “haunting” and “howling” boxes, it’s tale a story of living above a woman who may or may not be a serial killer.

Slightly out of order, but “The Weatherman” is a mid-tempo song that’s got a shuffle to the rhythm in the verses that keeps it from feeling formulaic. “Empires” is an interesting song. It is firmly entrenched in the “haunter” category, and as such it might be the song that could most-easily pass as a Brian Fallon solo song (or at least as a Horrible Crowes song). On first listen, it wasn’t my favorite, and yet over the course of the last week, it’s the song whose chorus has woven its way into my brain and I find myself unconsciously humming the melody in my head on repeat. History Books comes to a close with “A Lifetime Of Preludes.” It’s another slow-burn that I thought might be my least favorite on the record, except that it’s not. It might actually lyrically be the heaviest song on the record, and it’s tale of once-requited love becomes a bit more of a stomach-punch on subsequent listens.

I think I just wish “A Lifetime Of Preludes” was longer. At 3:17, it clocks in as the shortest of the album’s ten tracks, but it’s got a lot of bright textures that I would have loved to have seen expanded and turned into a soaring, six-minute show slow closer of a song. But maybe that’s the point of a lifetime of preludes I suppose, right? Also “I just wish it was longer” is my only overarching critique of History Books. The high points of the album my not quite reach the stratospheric highs of The ’59 Sound or Get Hurt or songs like, “45,” but they’re still comparatively high and with relatively few valleys corresponding to those peaks. The band clearly shook off any of the rust that might have accumulated through a half-dozen years apart from making music together. As a songwriter, Fallon has long-since shown himself more than capable of taking the heart-on-your-sleeve vigor of his sweaty, basement punk rock years and maturing in a way that doesn’t lose his listeners. He seems happy, perhaps aided by the passing of time that’s allowed him to deal with some of the more traumatic episodes in his life. And yet that happiness allows a certain clarity that keeps his lyrics are heavy, thoughtful, riddled with metaphor and double meaning, and the expanded musical palette of Gaslight’s collective members helps paint broader and more cinematic pictures, creating relatable characters that invoke many a different place and time in the lives of those of us on the consumer end. History books are, they say, written by the victors, and while we all know that that’s a bit of a lazy argument in most cases, it’s certainly true in the literal sense here. Kudos to Brian and Benny and Alex and Alex (and Ian). How we’ve missed you, and feeling good to be alive.

On a scale of 1 to 5 pork rolls, I give History Books a solid 4.5.

by Staff Writer jaystone
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history books jersey tga the gaslight anthem thirty tigers

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