Album Review: The Carmines – “Older, Fatter, Wider”

The Carmines are an Orange County-based three-piece pop-punk act who whose newest full-length, “Older, Fatter, Wider” was released 1/11/11 on Canada’s Merman Records. Sadly, I’ve been a little slow on the uptake in doing the review.

The Carmines feature a classic (read as: good) upbeat pop-punk sound, in the same vein as the Ramones, The Mr. T. Experience, The Groovie Ghoulies, The Queers and many of the old Lookout! Records acts from the 1990s. Speaking of The Queers, the album’s press kit features a long testimonial from the one-and-only Joe Queer himself. Queer refers to The Carmines as a “long lost SoCal surf band circa ’63 magically transported to 2010.”

All things considered, Queer is pretty dead-on. “Older, Fatter, Wider” is ten catchy sing-a-longs about the trials and tribulations of falling into, and out of, love with the girl of your dreams, all set to some fun, uptempo melodies, vocal harmonizing, and “all downstrokes, all the time” – good time, summer driving music.

Even upon first listen, “Older, Fatter, Wider” seems very comfortable and familiar, and that isn’t a bad thing. The Carmines aren’t exactly blazing any new trails, just making good, old-fashioned, unpretentious punk music with a true pop sensibilities. In fact, they are taking pure pop-inspired punk back to its roots; at some point it took a weird turn (I blame Blink-182, Good Charlotte and MTV’s TRL), and you’ve gotta respect a band trying to take back the reins from the teeny-boppers.

Some of the tunes are a little more surf inspired (not surprisingly, album opener “Surf’s Up and So Are You” is among them), while the remainder are traditional upbeat pop-punk (“Helpless Over You” and “She Forgot My Name” are probably the best examples).  “I Wanna Go To The Sock Hop,” “Goodbye to Me and You” and “Helpless Over You” are as well-crafted and infectiously catchy as anything the previously mentioned genre staples have ever put out; short, sweet and to the point. In some ways, however, the bulk of the album sounds as though it would be better live than on record, as singer/bass player Nate’s voice comes across a tad overdone and, at times, overly dramatic. “No More Patty” and its chorus about “Head Boppin’ / Name Droppin’ … Shot Callin’/ Hip Hoppin’ “sounds a little pedestrian and almost too formulaic, even for the genre.

The tunes on “Older, Fatter, Wider” are all concise, though not quite Ramones brief (most songs are at or just above the three-minute mark). At 3:26, “Sleepwalkin’” feels almost Herculean in length.  If your collection features a lot of genuine, old school pop-punk, “Older, Fatter, Wider” will be a welcome addition.

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