Pinhead Gunpowder - Carry The Banner

What if Green Day would have remained just a local punk band in the Bay Area? What if they had  never opted for power ballads and rock operas, what kind of punk rock would they have been peddling? Well, that question is answered in Billy Joe’s side project Pinhead Gunpowder. This time around Billy Joe teamed up with other local legend, Drummer, Aaron Cometbus formerly of Crimpshrine, and recently the short lived Thorns of Life with ex-jawbreaker’s frontman Blake Schwarzenbach.

The music is fast paced punk rock the entire album clocks in at a hair over 15 minutes.  So quickly is the album over that some are calling it an EP. I don't know, back in my day an EP was a couple of songs, when you hit the Nine song mark you've put your self in stride for a full length recording, 15 minutes or not.  Alas! I am splitting hairs. The album is pretty straight forward; power chords, drums following along, and just about the time you're getting into the song...it's over. Honestly though not bad for a straight forward punk album. 

Green Day- Kerplunk

I have never been a big fan of Green Day, but I do remember back so very long ago, a friend of mine loaned me his cassette tape of Kerplunk and thinking it was pretty amazing. I’m pretty sure I bootlegged myself a copy which was probably eaten by my crappy stock tape player in my Honda Accord. But sometime shortly thereafter, Dookie came out and I had moved on in my life. Dookie may have been hailed as a monumental success, but none of their hit songs grabbed my soul. Green Day’s Dookie take it or leave it. Kerplunk on the other hand was and still  is a top notch album. 

 
Simply put,  there is just something to be said for this album. This was the record that stirred up the underground swell of excitement for the band. It was the record that grabbed the attention of the major labels and launched the bands career. So by all accounts it has to be a good record. What makes the record so good is that the band sounded great doing what is does best…pop-punk. This is prior to the days of them trying everything  from ska to power ballads to rock operas. At this point the band was still very young, but played like seasoned vets, though, they stumble to the finish line a couple of times with weaker songs in the middle, but over all great catchy pop-punk. listening to this album, it's easy to see why they were the kings of the genre.


Songs to Check Out:


2000 light years away
one For The Razorbacks
Welcome to Paradise
80
Android


Songs to Stay Away From:


Dominated Love Slave -Meant to be comical-filler, but is more annoying than anything else.

Counting Crows- August and Everything After

If American Idol started in the early 90's andl the show put a band together with the second place winner (I think second place the spot the rock vocalist places ) they would have been called Counting Crows. Don't get me wrong, this is not a bad thing, it's just what I imagine when I listen to this album. August and Everything After is soft rock at it's finest. There's a reason T-Bone Burnett produced this album and a reason why it became the fast selling album since Nirvana's Nevermind. Adam Duritz has an incredible voice and the rest of the seven piece band put together some really creative music. Oh sure, you might pretend to be too indie for this band, but damn it! I know when you driving alone and Round Here comes on the radio you are singing it at the top of your lungs. They're  polished musicians, they're fun and creative. You'll love them, even if you don't tell anyone you do.

Songs you should give a listen 

Round Here

Omaha

Raining in Baltimore

Songs to stay away from

Time and Time Again- It could be a Disney Princess song.

Overall rating:

Faith No More- The Real Thing

I've always held Faith No More responsible for the merging of Rap and Rock with their song Epic. Some might take me to task for such an assertion, maybe it was the Chili Peppers or the Beastie Boys, but when I think of early Rap-Rock I think of Faith No More. If it's true, then shouldn't FNM be held accountable for their actions? I mean shouldn't they be utterly shunned for birthing the Limp Bizkits, POD's, and Linkin Parks of the rock world? I've always thought so, boldly shaking my head and fist at FNM and shouted "Shame on You!"

Recently though a couple of friends and co-workers have come to the bands defense. All of them saying, "Epic does not represent the whole of FNM's body of work" and "Mike Patton is an amazing singer." At their bequest, I decided to take another listen. 

My first inital thought is that Epic really has really stood up against the test of time in the Rap-Rock genre (though, I don't know that is saying too much). For a Rap-Rock song it is still relevant and could still be played on the radio. The rest of the album is actually pretty good. I mean they're probably never going to be one of my favorite bands, but still, I must give credit where it's due. Patton is a decent singer, though a little nasaly and whinny he manages to make it work for him. The rest of the band put together some good riffs and beats to make for a hard hitting album from start to finish. 

As far as the album is concerned, I already said Epic is still radio friendly. The band did a good rendition of Black Sabbath's War Pigs, and the The Real Thing is a good rock song. Underwater Love is catchy rock with a funk, slap-bass undertone. But avoid the silliness of Surprise! You're Dead and the other semi-rap / rock song Zombie Eaters.

Overall Rating:

Mr. T Experience - Making Things With Lights

When I was 15 years old or so, I went to the Pomona Colleges to see MTX. It was my first experience with the band and my first time stage diving. The band was great. They were fun and filled the room with energy even though there were probably only 25 -30 people in the room. The stage diving experience...well, first I'm not sure why I was trying it at an MTX show and second why was I doing it when there were so few people in the room. It was silly, I remember thinking that even back then, but it was a silly night and everyone was having a blast. It went alright for me, but my friend, well he actually jumped over the two rows of people and landed on his face, almost breaking his neck. I was sworn to secrecy... until now.  I still remember thinking, should I be laughing right now? Anyhow, that night sealed the deal, I've been an MTX fan ever since.

MTX is a pop-punk band from the bay area, but their not the mutated pop-punk that you might be familiar. They are more in line with the Ramones and Buzzcocks than the Blink 182’s and Good Charolette of the modern era. The band has gone through multiple line up changes, the constant is Dr. Frank (Singer, songwriter, guitar player)  If you enjoy fun, quirky fast paced songs about dysfunctional relationships then you’ll like what Dr. Frank and the rest of the guys are offering up. 

Songs

What Went Wrong She's No rocket Scientist

The Girl Who Still Lives At Home

Send Me a Postcard

Overall Rating:

Jawbreaker- ETC.

After four records Jawbreaker threw in the towel. The band did so on a disappointing (at the time) and sour note. Dear You, the bands major label effort was by all account an utter failure (though, sometime later fans did come to embrace the album). It was too dark, to saddening.  A couple years later  ETC. came out post-breakup and a sigh of relief was heard from the Jawbreaker community. One more album spanning the bands short lived career, featuring some of their best music was available for everyone to hear.


For me this album is second only to Twenty Four Hour Revenge Therapy, and yet, by all accounts is not a true record, in the sense that the band went into the recording studio with ETC. as their final thought. Rather, this was the band’s gift to their fans.  ETC. was put out  on the drummer Adam Pfahler’s own Blackball Records and is a collection of B sides, rare 7” recordings, songs from compilations, and songs that were scrapped on the cutting room floor.


ETC. covers the life of the band showing their progression from quirky pop punk to a slightly darker  sound. The sound varies from independent demos to major label productions. There were a lot of great songs that were passed up by the band and a good many others that people living before an advanced internet found hard to find. Adam did a good thing here scotch-taping bits and pieces into one concise record. 


If you've never heard this band, their sound is melodic, raw, dark and musically dense. I don't what else to say, but that's the best way for me to describe them.


Songs you should hear:
Kiss the Bottle
Sea Foam Green
Friendly Fire
Friends Back East


Overall Rating:

And the Journey Begins... Again

Yes, I know, I tried doing this blog last year and utterly failed; the whole concept crashed and burned before it ever got off the ground. But after taking a trip up North, listening to great music all along the way, I thought I had to give this one more shot before I throw in the towel forever.

The concept is to listen to a record a day, then give you the reader a brief description of the band and tell you what I think about said album. As I already stated, I was inspired by my trip, so the music I pick will be from the States and cities I visited along the way (at least at the beginning). Thus, for the next couple of months will take a gander at bands from the Bay Area of California, Olympia and Seattle, Idaho, and so forth.

I hope you enjoy the musical journey.