Downway is back after 15 years with a brand spanking new 12-track banger out of Calgary, Alberta. Last Chance For more Regrets released today on Thousand Islands Records. You may remember, our early feature of “Wild Ones” back in March. Well, today we’ve got the whole thing, so, you’re welcome. You can stream the new album and get that story below.
Last Chance For More Regrets is a creeper, but ringing in at just shy of 40 minutes of punk rock, I’d say that’s a good thing. Never once does the album start to drag or feel weary. It’s not some two-piece bit with a breather where you get out at the gas station to pick up a pack of smokes. There’s no intermission. You get that pack of smokes before pressing play with nothing but a long and complaisant dotted line stretching out your front window. Here’s one that’s been fifteen years in the making, and it shows.
The album is chock-full of anthemic skate punk melodies that go well with NoFX, and at times casts the gloomy almost hallowed reverence of AFI. If it doth pleaseth the audience, do me a favor, and skip ahead to track 11 before heading out to get those smokes, just for a quick tease at the awakening of mature 40-years-old-and-counting punk tunes that’s to come. On first take, “Punk OG” is my favorite track on the album. It’s one that kind of sums up the love/feel and general appeal of a working band who’s been in it for 25+ years, well, minus that little hiatus, but who cares? Downway’s back! The song strolls down the old relatable pot-holey roads of nostalgia from “one hell of a summer for a Canuck kid from the suburbs” to “all the friends in all the bands we’ve met over these years”, bringing up all those old feelings, and taking ya back to a simpler time when the words “PUNK ROCK” read so big in our youth.
It’s recorded/mixed/mastered by Casey Lewis at Echobase Studios and produced by Dan Peterson. You can pick up that record here. and check out Downway’s upcoming tour schedule below.
“I’m not some punk OG / but that doesn’t mean this music doesn’t mean the world to me. /
I never thought I’d play / punk rock in my 40’s but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”