THE FLYING LUGAW's POP PUNK 101
THE FLYING LUGAW's POP PUNK 101
Admin Recluse here with what would probably be my longest writeup thus far and also a first for TFL as this is a slight detour from the usual content being offered here. Regular programming to resume shortly after this post. *** Much has been said about last Thursday’s little uproar caused by Facebook page Pop Punk MNL (who had since changed its name to Pop Punk—fuck manila which, frankly speaking, isn’t really much of a name change at all and deserves a fair bit of explanation) when it posted something which I don’t really think I am allowed to repeat the details of anymore. As I had my hands full last Thursday morning with a project I was assigned to do in my day job, I admit to having caught only a fair gist of the entire drama that unfolded courtesy of posts from a handful of friends within the local hardcore punk scene who took it upon themselves to criticize Pop Punk MNL’s eyebrow-raising post really hard as any rational and sensible netizen would do. Just like almost any beef happening within the confines of the Internet, Pop Punk MNL’s gloriously awful stab at sarcasm or whatever that post was actually supposed to be had eventually died down later within the day after some admin from that page removed much of the contents from the original thread and deleted most of the sharply critical comments. Nonetheless, the not-so-glorious aftermath of that incident suddenly brought back to life an idea originally intended for publication in my soon-to-be-defunct old blog: a primer of sorts in which I get to list down five records all released by underrated bands that made me re-appreciate melodic punk back when I was almost ready to give up on it all. Just to clarify: This primer is not an attempt in any way to be “cool” per one of the items listed in that flame thread nor is it supposed to be interpreted as yours truly shoving my own musical preferences down someone else’s throat. No mention of Turnover and Pity Sex here too. Rather, this whole writeup was especially made with the hopes of letting the average Pop Punk MNL page admin know that there is A LOT more to melodic punk than just the same old My Chemical Romance/Panic! at the Disco/All Time Low/5 Seconds of Summer and each of those bands’ various imitations. As promised, here are the five records that made me take an about-face at melodic punk as a whole: 1. “Fix My Brain” by The Marked Men One of the records that made me appreciate melodic punk all over again is “Fix My Brain”, the third album from Texan band The Marked Men released back in 2006 on Dirtnap Records. While The Marked Men’s previous full-length efforts (2003’s self-titled debut and 2004’s “On the Outside”) along with “Ghosts” from 2009 are obviously melodic punk right down to their very core (or else The Marked Men wouldn’t even be part of this primer at all), I honestly found all three records a bit tiring to listen to on repeat as it seemed to me that the band tended to stick to playing almost every song at very much the same consistent and almost breakneck 225 bpm rate until it all melds into one really long track. “Fix My Brain” on the other hand strikes the balance between aggressive and melodic quite well by mixing the standard 225 bpm songs The Marked Men are quite notorious for with a handful of slower ditties that lean more towards guitar-driven pop, thus making the entire record a rather enjoyable listen from start to finish. Why “Fix My Brain” rarely gets mentioned in almost any intelligent discussion within the local music scene concerning top-tier melodic punk records still puzzles me to this day. Listen to “Fix My Brain” here: https://dirtnaprecords.bandcamp.com/album/marked-men-fix-my-brain Suggested records to check out after listening to “Fix My Brain”: “Screens” by Low Culture; “Silent Kill” by Radioactivity; “Prosthesis” by Mind Spiders (i.e., go no further than the most recent records put out by bands serving as side projects for each member of The Marked Men) 2. “Sentimental Ward” by Toys That Kill A more recent example of a melodic punk record that I really think should be brought out more into the open is “Sentimental Ward”, the most recent album from Recess Records flagship band Toys That Kill. Though already a veteran band with five full-length albums under their belt, Toys That Kill show no signs of stopping on “Sentimental Ward”. Hell, the band has even managed to improve on their already-established brand of snotty melodic punk by making the drums sound more booming compared to before, adding a dash of surf guitar that all their previous records didn’t have, and concocting songs that any self-deserving punk can sing along to. Toys That Kill are the old dog in the melodic punk scene that had actually pulled off new tricks by its own accord instead of being taught to do so. Their split 7" with younger band Joyce Manor who some within today's local melodic scene like a lot (s/o to that meme page admin going by the name "joyth minor") is also worth checking out. Listen to “Sentimental Ward” here: https://recessrecords.bandcamp.com/album/sentimental-ward Suggested records to check out after listening to “Sentimental Ward”: “The Body, The Blood, The Machine” by The Thermals; “dorkrockcorkrod” by The Ergs!; “Mutiny at Muscle Beach” by Night Birds 3. “Stake My Claim” by Big Eyes A pressing problem I happen to have with the current state of melodic punk over these parts is that there are way too many bands copping everything they can from Paramore and acquiring a sizable yet gullible fanbase while doing so. I mean, a couple of Paramore-influenced bands within the local “pop punk” scene are fine by me personally but a dozen (or maybe even more than that as of this writing, who knows) of Hayley Williams imitators operating within the same small scene, really now?! The overabundance of Paramore clones over these parts is rather alarming to be honest, so much so that I actually coined the term “Paramorecore” to describe such a lousy phenomenon. Good thing then that Kait Eldridge and her band Big Eyes were a complete revelation for me when I was searching high and low a few years ago for melodic punk bands formed in the 2000’s with women at the forefront that aren’t just rehashed versions of Paramore. Big Eyes’ latest album “Stake My Claim” finds Eldridge staking her claim (duh!) over the whole melodic punk scene with serving upon serving of strong anthems that pack a lot more punch than Hayley Williams and her crew could ever hope to achieve. “Stake My Claim” bears a lot more intensity compared to the band’s previous full-length releases (“Hard Life” from 2011 and “Almost Famous” from 2013), thanks in part to the very last person I actually expected to get involved in a melodic punk record: Krallice/Gorguts/Dysrhythmia guitarist and highly sought after underground metal producer Colin Marston who had recorded the said album’s drum tracks over at his Thousand Caves studio. Who knew that the high-standard production techniques of extreme metal and simplistic musical approach of melodic punk would eventually cross paths one day? Listen to “Stake My Claim” here: https://bigeyes.bandcamp.com/album/stake-my-claim Suggested records to check out after listening to “Stake My Claim”: “Lost Time” by TacocaT; “Whoop Dee Doo” by The Muffs; “I”, “II” and “III” by Sheer Mag; self-titled sophomore album by Acapulco Lips 4. “Crash Diagnostic” by Discount Floridian band Discount’s third and final album “Crash Diagnostic” was released just a year prior to the turn of the New Millennium (or the year 1999 for all the millennials out there) with little fanfare if any, which is a bit frustrating for me most especially considering that production duties for the said record were handled by post-hardcore luminary J. Robbins of Jawbox fame. Also featuring a younger Alison Mosshart on vocals (who would ultimately rebrand herself a few years later as a mature-sounding blues rock vocalist projecting a femme fatale image with her subsequent bands The Kills and The Dead Weather), I would go so far as to say that “Crash Diagnostic” was a product of its time and yet at the same time already light years ahead of what Paramore would eventually do by the mid-2000’s. In fact, all those “Paramorecore” bands plaguing the local “pop punk” scene could perhaps learn a thing or two from listening to “Crash Diagnostic” instead of just brazenly imitating Paramore note for note. Listen to ‘Crash Diagnostic” here:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrp4lNlDAM1BgsZVyVhkMkbuhgLG4F4jC Suggested records to check out after listening to “Crash Diagnostic”: “Predicts the Future” by Plumtree; “The Distance Is So Big” by Lemuria; “Get Awkward” by Be Your Own Pet; “Lupine Peroxide” by The Barbs 5. “Torch Song” by Radiator Hospital A primer on underrated melodic punk wouldn’t be complete in my humble opinion without anyone representing today’s millennial breed and who better to represent an entirely new generation than Sam Cook-Parrott of the band Radiator Hospital whose 2014 album “Torch Song” has all the hallmarks of a future classic - at least within the confines of 21st century melodic punk in general. Cook-Parrott’s vocals are of worthy consideration whenever listening not just to “Torch Song” but to Radiator Hospital’s entire discography as it sounds to me as if his heart had been severely broken more times than the amount of releases his own band has put out thus far (“Torch Song” is Radiator Hospital’s fourth full-length album by the way), thus placing him more along the lines of the archetypal sad sack singer-songwriter who could very easily trigger feelings of wistful melancholia which I haven’t heard in quite a long while ever since this side of John K. Samson (Dashboard who?). Now if you’ll please excuse me while I grab me some Kleenex... Listen to “Torch Song” here: https://radiatorhospital.bandcamp.com/album/torch-song Suggested records to check out after listening to “Torch Song”: “Reconstruction Site” by The Weakerthans; “Born to Quit” by Smoking Popes; “Attack on Memory” by Cloud Nothings