Clumsy Words Escape

Joey & Tony - Violins. Like most nerdy, skinny, white boys in the 1990s, I loved new school punk rock. The bands on the Epitaph and Fat Wreck Chords rosters were almost always playing on cassette in my car during those high school years. Two of those bands, Lagwagon and No Use For a Name were not my favorites, but I had some of their albums and liked some of their songs. Having since moved musically on, I never imagined revisiting their catalogues or keeping up with their whereabouts-- so it was a surprise when I come across the new record by Joey Cape and Tony Sly called Acoustic. [You can buy it directly from Fat Wreck through that link]. It's hard to watch these bands grow old and not change. They hold a certain place in my history-- not nostalgia, just a placeholder -- so when they keep doing stuff, and that stuff is bad, it makes my perception of the band and its past change. Like, "What was I thinking listening to this crap?" It's a hard question-- when does music go from cherished and wonderful to embarassing crap?

My first reaction was "Oh Dear God No!" Always a good theory, mostly terrible in its execution, the acoustic punk record is a dreadful genre of which I have been far too willing a listener. Call me a glutton for punishment. Anyway, from what I've heard, the songs on this album are mostly bad, but there are a few nuggets in there. Joey Cape (Lagwagon's dimunitive front man) has the better ballad voice of the two, and comes across much more natural. Sly's songs show the relative 2-dimensions of the new school punk rock, with tunes that are flat and boring. Lagwagon always had much more interesting melodies and ideas, and Cape's song here is actually very pleasant. There is good use of concertina without sounding like the Counting Crows or something.

The opening of the song reminds me a lot of NOFX's "Scavenger Type"...