Old Punx

Intro:  Sometimes I’m more amazed at the longevity of some Punk bands than I am at the longevity of the genre as a whole. I mean there’s always gonna be some marginalized odd ball kids from the cities to the suburbs looking for a little 1-2-3. But the fact that some of these kids are now adults 30 years on in the punk community is the truly amazing part. It shows if anything that for most Punk is a way of life and not just a passing fad. Does that mean that every ’77 act not in a nursing home has a right to put out a new album? Sure why not. Doesn’t mean it’s going to be good or anything. But knock yourselves out.

Act I ( D.O.A. Talk – Action = 0): I had low expectations for this one. D.O.A. were without doubt a great punk band. Shit they even invented the term “Hardcore” way the hell back in 1981. Joey Shithead has one of the better monikers in punk lore. And the one time I saw them they had a chainsaw on stage and threatened the audience with it during some song about Canadian lumberjacks. But more recently they put out an album mostly about Hockey that was pretty lame (Kings of Punk, Hockey, and Beer), and they put out a documentary that me and Brother P were able to get through about 5 minutes of. So with a sour taste in my mouth I threw on my advance copy of “Talk – Action = 0″ (The album hits stores on June 8th,and yes I said “hits”, I refuse to use the term “drops”). As for longevity, this is their 13th full-length release. Honestly, this one isn’t half bad. In fact parts of it are really pretty good. Opening track That’s Why I’m An Atheist kicks things off with a hardcore bang. Rebel Kind will be pleasing to your ears if you’re a Cobra Skulls fan. I Live In A Car is not as good as the UK Subs song of the same name but it’s still awright. The bands cover of Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are A Changin’ is pretty damn good too, even if it reminds me of the four and a half hours I wasted watching that exhausting Scorsese documentary “No Direction Home”. Seriously if you have close to five hours to kill and don’t really like yourself check that one out. But back to D.O.A. Look , they’re not all winners. There are some downright stupid tracks on this album, like one about Star Trek and an annoying ass cover of Amore. But overall I’d actually say this one is worth checking out. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel or chart any undiscovered territory… but it’s better than listening to Lady Gaga or what ever the hell it is people listen to these days.

Act II (The Business – Doing The Business): Whoah boy. Avoid this one. I’m sorry. It’s terrible. I feel bad saying this but “Doing The Business” does nothing to further an already legendary band’s status. It’s funny too cause for about 10 seconds or so it had some promise. The opening feedback and guitar riff built me up before the song kicked in and knocked me the fuck down. The lyrics are whack and contrived. The songwriting formulaic and boring. And it just overall bummed me out because I like the band so much otherwise. 1997’s “The Truth, The Whole Truth And Nothing But The Truth” was a damn good album. The band embraced what was going on in Hardcore, injected their Oi! leanings and with the help of Lars Frederiksen put out a damn good album. “Doing the Business” is just lame though. The four new songs are all bad and the six bonus live tracks of old songs sound like shit even if they’re classics. It’s like they put the old anthems on here to apologize for the new ones or at least to give people an excuse to buy the damn thing. But buy anything by this band cept this one. Might be time to throw in the towel. And one last thing of note, the cover art is a cartoon of two attractive Chelsea Girls. I haven’t seen a Chelsea Girl since the late nineties and attractive ones were usually tough to come by even then. I’m guessing that’s why these two are a cartoon. Would’ve been impossible to find the real thing in captivity. You’d have a better chance of snapping a shot of Bigfoot or Nessie.

Act III (G.B.H. – Perfume & Piss): I saved the best for last here. G.B.H. have quite simply blown me away with this one. Thanks to my boy Dylan for burning this for me. Next time I’m out I’ll buy a copy of my own. From start to finish G.B.H. don’t let up. Seriously this one just floored me. Like D.O.A. and The Business, G.B.H. are damn pioneers of the genre. Unlike D.O.A. and The Business they are still at the very top of their fucking game. G.B.H. continue to prove why their simple three lettered name deserves to be emblazoned on the backs of leather and denim jackets the world over. “Perfume & Piss” is anthem after anthem after anthem. You’d never know this band was around for 30 damn years. They’ve still got the edge, the energy, and the ability to write some damn good songs. Like the a fore mentioned last great Business album, the even better “Perfume & Piss” is also produced by Lars Frederiksen. And it’s on Lars’ bandmate Tim Armstrong’s Hellcat imprint. Rancid’s involvement creates this weird effect where at times you’re not sure if G.B.H. is sounding a little Rancid-y or if you’re just hearing one of Rancid’s more prevalent influences. But either way it doesn’t matter. What you get here is an extremely solid album by an extremely solid punk band.  Buy it without hesitation.

Conclusion: Punk Rock is here to stay. It never died despite what some have said. And Punk Rockers are a stubborn bunch that refuse to throw in the towel even when some of them probably should. But as long as bands like G.B.H. continue to churn out amazing albums I can look past a few near-misses and duds by some other bands. No one likes to be told they can’t do something anymore. And a big part of punk is telling people that tell you you can’t do something to fuck off. So fuck me I guess.

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