Collider’s debut release
of WCYF is unadulterated punk rock. Simple, aggressive and
tight. Witty lyrics, tongue-in-cheek lines (the album name itself is a playful
homage to LAMF from the Heartbreakers) and prose. Keeping it
simple – and doing it well. If the gritty sound of Collider sounds
familiar to some of us, it’s because it should. Produced by the great
Tommy Ramone, with guests that include C.J. Ramone and dedicated to Joey
himself, there’s no reason why this sound is not only familiar –
it’s refreshing.
Every song on this album is a gem, from the opening 1991, a memoriam to those of us that stepped out of high school around the turn of this decade, you’ll be whimsically frolicking in your past memories of big pants, emo kids and know that “we were the first.” Mock Cheer is a playful song that bops about, almost tempting old-skool punkers to bitch about too much rhythm in a punk song. So bitch all you want while the rest of us pogo around like loons and yell “mock cheer over here, over there, wave your hands in the air!”
If They Don’t Come Back is an example of punk’s wittiest lyrics. All of us have a one that got away somewhere in our history, so sing along with them and yell fuck it. “If you love someone set them free” my ass…a silly but truthful play on the adage. And fret not about the tinkling keys that kick off God Bless Us Anyway, because if you’re in the wrong spot when the guitars kick in you’re going to hope this band’s crowd is as old skool as the music sounds and someone picks you up from the floor of the pit.
Say Yeah closes this
short and energetic album well. Reminding me of the Ramones (bet you
didn’t see that one coming, huh?) and their cover of Do You Wanna
Dance, Collider takes the speed ballad and runs with it creating a simple,
basic, pogo-eliciting, pit-pounding punk rock song that is as good as any that
came out of New York City’s CBGBs. The song required a 50 mile drive by
C.J. Ramone, who came down to guest on this closing tune of
WCYF, kicking it off with his 1-2-3-4.
My only gripe about this album is it’s length – six tracks, merely a drop in the bucket of what I hope will be a continuing recording career for Mike Keaney (bass), Joe Abbatantuono (drums), Jed Davis (vocals/keys) and Sean Gould (guitars) under the banner of Tommy Ramone. Put out by SonaBLAST! Records, I’m hoping they continue. In the short and simple words of another of my reviewers, JHR, “More like this, please.”
Contact
Information:
Post: ISL Public Relations, LLC, 333 West 52nd St.,
9th Floor, New York, NY, 10019, USA
Phone: (212) 541-7595
E-Mail:
Ida@islpr.com
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www.islpr.com
