Words by Jim Testa
Jim Testa founded the highly influential zine, Jersey Beat in 1982 which he continues to edit to this day. Through writing for his own publication and a number of other outlets, including as a staff writer for Hudson County’s Jersey Journal, he has championed local, regional and national up-and-coming bands. Punk has always shunned credentials, but rest assured that Jim won’t lead you astray.
HOME RUNS
ATOM DRIVER – “Occupants” EP (self-released)
Three songs from these Jersey lifers, whose pedigrees included Deadguy, Boss Jim Gettys, Good Clean Fun, and Buzzkill. If you were lucky enough to have seen any of those bands, you know to expect punk and metal that delivers the best of both camps while not really falling into either. “Occupants” kicks off the party with a call to arms that’s at once heavy, hard, grinding, psychedelic, and pummeling… and then these guys get serious. “Say Anything You Want” starts with a basic Motorhead template and then cranks everything way past 11, while the band’s homage to punk legend “Dale Nixon” delivers 87 seconds of walloping psychosis that’s like Black Flag’s “TV Party” played by Hot Snakes with rabies.
MECHANICAL CANINE – To My Chagrin (Don Giovanni Records)
Brevity may the soul of wit but it’s also the heart of pop-punk, as this talented Philly quartet proves on its third LP (and first for Don Giovanni Records). Fueled by James Walsh’s effervescent vocals, a cadre of charging guitars and bass, and Jamie Conroy’s rollicking percussion, the songs on “To My Chagrin” fly by quickly, 10 of 13 tracks clocking in at 2 minutes or less. Each packs a melody and enough rhythmic variation to make every song a distinctive statement. Catchy but clever pop-punk in the style of Houseboat or The Copyrights sums it up, with a mix that sadly buries most lyrics in mush, although the provocative song titles (“The Catcher’s Balk,” “Mountain of Chairs,” “Gets The Duck,”) make we yearn for a lyric sheet. After an assault of fast/short/catchy, “Watercourse” ends the album with an acoustic ballad that – contrary to tradition – does not suck. They’ll be on tour for all of August (sadly bypassing NYC and NJ,) and well worth catching should they come to your town.
THE TRICERATOPS – Charge! (Learning Curve Records)
A triceratops might have three horns but The Triceratops only numbers two members, drummer Melvin Monreau and guitarist John Van Atta, longtime friends who met 25 years ago working at CBGB. The duo do two things exceptionally well: energetic, catchy indie-rock and plaintive but powerful ballads. Van Atta broadens the band’s sonic palette with a variety of guitar sounds, while Monreau’s drumming could power a locomotive. Acoustic tracks “Neoliberal Bedtime Routine” and “Distance,” and the electric but equally delicate “Straight With You,” underscore the group’s range, but it’s the infectious, up tempo rock numbers (“Can’t Take You,” “Straight With You,” “Neoliberal Bedtime Ritual”) that make this highly recommended.
SEMI-FAMOUS – Destroy Ourselves (Rare Bird/Duck! Records)
In 2001, John “Jughead” Pierson wrote Weasels In A Box, a fictionalized novel about his life in Screeching Weasel. The band in the novel was called Semi-Famous, and several decades later, Jughead and his pal Ryan Rockwell (Mixtapes) decided to have some fun by writing actual songs based on the titles in the book. Singer/guitarist Billy Brown and drummer Tyson Cornell came aboard and now – in conjunction with Weasels In A Box appearing in new paperback and audiobook editions – there’s an album of this stuff, and it’s a load of fun. Pierson and Rockwell (and Ben Weasel and Dan Vapid and Joe Queer and Dr. Frank, not to mention Green Day and Op Ivy before them) would make “Lookout Records Pop-Punk” into a genre unto itself as well as a cottage industry, influencing countless bands to this day. As for Semi-Famous, it’s exactly what you’d expect, snotty and catchy with song titles like “Katy Still Puts Up With You,” “Middle School Monster,” and “Farmacy Girl.” On one level, it’s all a bit jokey and formulaic, with songs about killer clowns and middle school and evil things lurking in the dark, but that’s not to say that much of this doesn’t qualify as top-notch pop-punk, infused with ideas and an innate cleverness. And there’s a lovely instrumental that recalls Jughead’s days in Even In Blackouts.
THE ZATOPEKS – Loitering & Sauntering (Stardumb Records)
England’s Zatopeks have gone a decade without a new album, but happily have lost none of their political fervor, musical verve, or unbridled and infectious enthusiasm. With mile-a-minute lyrics and a wealth of influences (Clash, Buzzcocks, American doo-wop, ska, and more,) the band attacks every track with exceptional guitars and Will DeNiro’s distinctive vocals. This music has its roots in the Lookout! bands of the 90s but there’s so much more here, delivered distinctively with not just enormous energy but intelligence. The opening track delivers a treatise on the British economy, another reclaims an anti-fascist marching song from the Spanish Civil War and makes it the Zatopeks’ own, and the lyric that begins “it’s a fine sunny day and I’ve got to go” morphs into an indictment of the British justice system. Catchy, smart, and infectious, Loitering & Sauntering will be a revelation if this is your first exposure to the Zatopeks or the return of a beloved favorite. Larry Livermore penned wonderful liner notes for the vinyl, the lyrics are all there to read and absorb on the Bandcamp page.
TRIPLES, DOUBLES, SINGLES
VISTA BLUE – “Help Me, Ron” EP (self-released)
Five songs about baseball, released the week of the All-Star Game (there’s even a mention of the starting pitcher, Pirates phenom Paul Skenes). Vista Blue, primarily the project of prolific pop-punk jack-of-all-trades Mike Patton (not that one), does EP’s about all sorts of things – holidays, books, movies, and other sports – but baseball has always been a favorite topic. Given how Patton always delivers, catchy and clever and fun, you don’t need to know an ERA from an OPS to enjoy this.
L CARS – Aniara (self-released)
Baltimore’s Lucas Carscadden has a gravelly voice and an inexhaustible supply of ideas for catchy pop-punk songs, but on this release, he’s written a rock opera of sorts based on an obscure scifi novel (turned into an equally obscure film) about a spaceship carrying Earth colonists to a new planet; the ship veers off course and becomes lost in the vastness of space, and the novel tells the story of how the passengers survive and evolve. A knowledge of the book or movie will help make sense of the songs, although you can follow along with the lyrics on the Bandcamp page. The music stands on its own, though, starting out optimistically and then gradually taking on shadings of foreboding, terror, and doom. Carscadden creates a variety of sonic effects that perfectly reflect the darkening emotions of each track, as the Ariana sails hopelessly into the darkness of space and the soul.