"Buck Wild"

A Fistful of Dynamite

Buck Wild

I didn’t know how to feel at first when I popped this CD in for review. Being the pessimist I am, I expected this to be some sort of post-hardcore emo band which I would most definitely hate. I was planning on writing a horrible review…emo, after all, has no place in punk rock or this magazine. But much to my delight, A Fistful of Dynamite is no post-hardcore emo band. They are folk punk, something far from the emo whines I expected to hear. And for that I am very grateful.

The first song was alright but nothing that really stood out to me in particular. But as soon as I heard the second track, “We’re Talking About People, Right?”, I knew I was going to have to listen to it again. And so I did – as soon as it had finished I instantly replayed it, picking up everything I could from the song that I didn’t already catch on my previous listening. I don’t even know how to really describe the greatness of this song…nothing I say will do it justice. It’s a song that makes me nostalgic although of what I’m not sure…it reminds me of the Swingin’ Utters but I have no clue why, and I can tell that the lyrics are deep and meaningful but I don’t know what they’re trying to say. A Fistful of Dynamite is acoustic folk rock with a definite punk rock energy and sound. The vocals at times seem strained but when the chorus comes with the background singers chanting along with lead vocals, it picks up momentum.

This isn’t your typical folk punk band, although if you like folk punk you most likely will also like A Fistful of Dynamite. Think Flogging Molly meets Against Me! meets Swingin’ Utters with the lyrical styling of Bad Religion and Operation Ivy. That’s the best way I could describe it in terms of major comparable bands. At this point I would like to discuss with you what I believe really makes the band unique. Now, any band could play folk punk more or less (assuming they have at least some background in the music and musical talent), but A Fistful of Dynamite, as I have already mentioned, is not just any folk punk band. There is a certain punk energy fueling the songs, a certain unpolished quality to the music that you just can’t resist. The lead vocals are in parts shaky and uncertain, but when the pace picks up so do they and the song explodes with the gruff punk attitude we all love. Harmonica, accordion and acoustic guitar add the folk to this punk soundtrack, and when mixed with the killer lyrics (which cover topics from the undead to suicide and beyond), they explode through the speakers of your sound system.

There is only one real problem I find with this CD, and that is the absence of energy in some of the tracks. The energy is almost there but doesn’t quite make it…you can almost feel the vigor built up in the songs, waiting to burst out and be set free, but when the time comes it just never happens. Almost, almost, almost…and then nothing. In a way it’s almost disappointing to see what the songs could have been if given a little something to boost them up to the next level (a bit of speed, perhaps), but then again, as they are the songs are still very enjoyable and you forget that they could have been something more.

“Serenity Now”, “We’re Talking About People, Right?”, and “The Johnson 12” are the standout songs on this album, without a doubt. All have unforgettable choruses, captivating lyrics and an overall uncompromising sound. “The Johnson 12” is the last song on the album, and fittingly so, as it enlightens the listener that all good things come to an end only because you’re letting them. It’s a song with depressing lyrics and an uplifting message – an odd combination that seems to work in this case. “Serenity Now” sings about raising the dead, a topic many fans of theirs are sure to enjoy. And “We’re Talking About People, Right?” is just an amazing, haunting song with clever lyrics and an impressive chorus that forces you to press the repeat button of your CD player long after the first time you’ve heard it.

A Fistful of Dynamite was a pleasant surprise to the pessimist inside of me whispering that this was nothing more than a crappy emo band masquerading as something better than it actually was. “Buck Wild” was like a hardcore acoustic slap in the face, in the best way possible. If you’re a fan of folk punk, or just punk in general, then I would suggest giving them a listen. If you’re anything like me (which I have to assume you are), then you’ll love this CD as much as I did. And that’s saying a lot.

"stay home"

The Bricktops

Stay Home

As soon as you hear the first verse of the first song on this album you realize this: that The Bricktops are pop punk. Real pop punk, not the fake pop rock that they call pop punk to confuse the MTV-watching junior highschoolers of the world. Pop punk like the Ramones. These guys just might be the Ramones of the next generation. Except for less popular and with more street cred, that is.

First song "Taryn is a Lesbian" is damn catchy. It's a song I wouldn't be ashamed to blast out on my car stereo...it's pop, but it's fuckin' hardcore pop. And it's funny too, on top of that - I mean, the whole concept of this guy going after a lesbian but knowing that he'll never get her because she doesn't (as they put it) "like the cock" - it's just funny, okay?

All of their songs sound like they stem directly from the Ramones, and if you like the Ramones as much as I do then you won't mind that at all. But I could see how it could get slightly annoying after a while...I mean, as great as the Ramones are, sometimes you have to switch it up a little. And when all of the songs sound so similar that you figure they could very well be continuations of each other and maybe the whole CD is really just one long song instead of fourteen short ones, well, that could get to be a little too much. I myself don't mind, Ramones and heavily-Ramones-influenced bands are one of my weaknesses, but that's just me.

The song "42" sounds like The Bricktops listened to "The KKK Took My Baby Away" and just decided to change the words but keep the rest of the music, right down to the very last note. First time I listened to it with my sister we both broke out into "The KKK Took My Baby Away" at the chorus, without knowing beforehand that the other was about to do it. So apparently it's not just me who found the similarity between the songs.

This band really has everything you could ask for in an awesome punk band. They've got the three-chord sound down to a science, the vocals are spot on for a poppier punk band (like they are), they have clever, catchy songs that are bound to get stuck in your head for hours, and they have a teenage mindset and sense of humor that all of their fans can appreciate.

If I was being forced at gunpoint to decide, I guess I would have to say the best songs on the album are "Perverted Justice", "Bricktop Bop", "42", "Taryn is a Lesbian", and "The Happy Song". But that's only if there was a hostage situation and I was faced with my own impending death if I didn't choose their best songs - otherwise I wouldn't go through the hassle of picking and choosing. Because honestly, I love all fourteen songs on this album. And that's saying a lot, seeing as how on most albums there's at least one song I don't really like. The Bricktops are just that good.

I would highly recommend checking out The Bricktops and their new CD "Stay Home" to anyone who likes good ol' punk rock the way it was in the beginning. If you like the Ramones (and honestly, who doesn't like them?), then you'll like The Bricktops. This is pop punk the way it's supposed to be - three-chord catchy punk that you're proud to admit rocking out to. So yeah, I like pop punk. I never thought I'd see the day when I'd admit that openly, but it's true, I do. And if you listen to this band, I'm sure you will too.

"allegiance"

Lost in Greenpoint

Allegiance

first off, this review is going to be completely biased...we here at diy punk zine love this band probably more than anyone who will be reading this review (except for the band, maybe). so forgive us in advance for all of the gushing over this album that we are about to do.

suburbian kids are dead is the first song on the cd, and the first song of the band's to be released by 80 grit records. suburbian is not actually a word...i'm pretty sure by this they meant suburban...but hey, who cares? not me. it begins with the announcement that hitler is dead. random but true bit of trivia for you there. hopefully you already knew that though. wow. i love that song. they played this during their show in connecticut, and while at the time we didn't know it, we've liked it ever since first hearing it. and what do you know, its the first on the cd. lucky us. the lyrics are awesome, the singing is awesome, everything about it is basically just awesome. just from listening to this one song i would already suggest to all my friends and acquaintances to go out and buy this cd. it's that good.

second song, awesome chorus (and title as well, since it's the same thing): keep rednecks off skateboards. i don't really know why you'd write a song about this, but hey, it works. and it's pretty amazing. so whatever...keep rednecks off skateboards i say as well.

at this point i would like to say that i love this band, in case you forgot. and, that musically, they are better than you.... i'm not looking for enemies here, i'm just stating the truth.

on to a more political LIG song, "letters from an iraqi citizen" is depressing but a pretty accurate depiction of the shit our country has put the whole middle east through. one of the saddest songs i've heard in a long time (other than "easy way out", but we're not gonna get into an adicts review here, we'll leave that to the big zines), but it's still an amazing song. and no, it's not emo, in case you were wondering.

Confederate: "punk rock with all this hey, hey shit...hay is for fuckin' horses" sums up this song. one of the best on the cd, by far. first, zach nails the intro with a crazy seven second yankee doodle bit, and then...i mean, who impersonates the people they are trying to make fun of in a song? LIG does, and they are awesome. i had to actually pause the song for about fifteen seconds just so i could laugh. it was that entertaining. i really hope that they play this song live at every show they do from now on. sure, it would take some major cojones, but i'm pretty sure they're capable of pulling it off. the song, i mean.

the drumming on "let it go" is impressive...not like any of the other instruments aren't impressive, because they definitely are (all three of these guys are amazing at the instruments they play), but the drumming in this song especially proves that point for james. and of course, what's more awesome than ending a song with a giant burp? nothing we can think of.

Horseshoes & Hand Grenades: a song we were lucky enough to see performed live way before this cd was released. the live performance was awesome (because they were there and not just coming out of the earbuds shoved into my brain like they usually are) if not a little unrehearsed. the "whoas" in the live performance got shot to hell, but in the cd they're all there and done at the right times. unlike when they forgot the timing during their CT show. which was awesome, by the way.

A Place To Go might just be my favorite song in the entire history of the world. no lie. what do you think it's about? if you guessed going to a show, then, well, you're right. so you could say "i was right!" and you wouldn't be wrong (although we don't recommend you saying this out loud to yourself in crowded places such as the library, if that's where you hang out). basically it sums up everything awesome about the world, if going to punk shows is your idea of what the world actually is. and by the way, josh is an awesome bassist, as proven in the intro of this song. and just when i thought there was no possible way for the song to get any better at all, it gets better. what is that? AMAZING!

Lost in Greenpoint has gotten even more talented since Backyard Scandal, somehow (because who would've thought you could get better than that?) zach, james and josh are extremely talented musicians with a lot to say and they surely said it on this cd. if i didn't already have this cd, i would go out and buy it again. and again. and again. hell, i'd even travel all the way to pennsylvania for a copy, and i'm completely serious. it's totally worth every penny of the 925 pennies that make up the price of it on interpunk (plus the 300 pennies in shipping it takes to get to your place). if you like punk rock, or just good music in general (we're assuming you like punk since you are reading a punk zine), then this cd is one you can't miss. so don't miss it.

"keep it at that"

Up For Nothing

Keep It At That

my first impressions of this cd: wow, it's very pop...and surprisingly okay. i mean, in general i can't stand pop-punk acts (think good charlotte, blink 182, in that vein) but then again, this isn't that type of pop. it's upbeat, fast-paced, in your face punk...nothing wrong with that. this is more for the people who enjoy rancid (especially "indestructible" version rancid), nofx, bouncing souls, pennywise, and bands similar to those. some songs are more bubblegum pop than others, some are more hardcore-sounding (although in no way am i calling this band hardcore...to label them with that particular adjective would be an insult to both the band and the genre).

the first track, "shoot down the moon", sounds somewhat like a pop-punk ballad. very catchy, with a memorable chorus of "whoa-oh-oh-oh" that i found myself singing along with halfway through. and of course it has to end, in typical punk fashion, with a slew of "heys" that i'm sure even the ramones would have been proud of.

in fact, many of the songs on this cd are full of "whoas" and "heys" and the like (excluding "oi"...the band isn't an oi band though, so that was never expected of them). and most were singalong punk songs that i found myself yelping to without even knowing half the words. the second and third times around listening i was able to sing my heart out along with the band, and that's precisely what i did.

the vocals in up for nothing are (how can i put this nicely?) probably better-suited for an emo/screamo band than this pop-punk one. the lead vocals are whinier than most punk bands generally accept as okay, but hey, you can't really help the voice you're born with. and it's not like the guy can't sing...he's actually pretty good at doing that. backing vocals are pretty solid too...the "heys" chanted during choruses are like every "hey" you've heard before, from the ramones to rancid. of course, "heys" are pretty easy to cover...there's not that much expertise involved. the bass lines are pretty catchy and in some parts pretty impressive...i wouldn't have expected that much talent on bass (no offense to the band, but most punk acts i hear don't place much emphasis on hard bass lines). the bassist was by no means as talented as matt freeman, but then again, who is? nobody, that's who. the drumming was loud, fast, and solid as well...the way punk drums are supposed to be played.

the cd was a real breath of fresh air for me...it gave me a much-needed break from all the hardcore demos sent in for review to the zine. there's only so much hardcore one can take before slowly slipping into insanity, and i'm afraid i was almost at that point. but this cd was something completely different - poppy and upbeat. listening to them gives you a feel-good sense...it's the type of music you pogo your ass off to before the main act at a punk show. that's the best way i can describe it. you may not know the words the singer is singing at you, and you may not know where the song is going next, but it doesn't matter. it's enough to get you up on your feet, moving, pogoing and moshing, and just having a good time. and really, what more could you want from a cd?

cd reviews

we've got a ton of cds to review...so many i fact that i've misplaced some of em. seriously, we have probably twenty or thirty we need to write about. and we promise we will...and the reviews will be in upcoming issues of the zine.

so instead of writing the reviews in the order we recieved them (which would have been the nice thing of us to do), instead i just took a handful, spread em out on the desktop in front of me, and decided that the following cds will be reviewed in issue 4:

keep it at that / up for nothing
allegiance / lost in greenpoint
stay home / the bricktops
stupyd cow demo / stupyd cow
the nights i can't remember i can't forget / the knockdown (RYF records)
...and we travel on / home to these explosions (RYF records)
buck wild / a fistful of dynamite (RYF records)
shred! / TFA

...so we've got some work on our hands. i guess these reviews won't be as in-depth as the old ones were...since that would make this issue turn out to be like ninety pages at the rate i write reviews.

our first post

okay, here's to our first time posting. we're gonna try and put the zine together more efficiently...hopefully get two or three more issues out by the end of the year.

let's see...issue #4 should be out soon. i know we've been saying that for like two months but we're serious now. just putting it all together now. we promise.

so, it turned out that to print the last issue it cost us $3 for one copy... that didn't work out too well. only ended up making one copy actually. damn library, with their expensive copy machine. so basically, if you want a free copy, you might be out of luck... we'll still make prints, maybe not at the library though. kinko's is always an option. then we'll send em out. or hand em out, depending if you live in connecticut or not.

the end.

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