I had great expectations from this book when I bought it because it features some of my favorite punk rock bands like Bad Religion and Nofx, plus I love Californian punk so I was interested how some of the albums got so popular, what drove Green Day and Bad Religion to major label, how Epitaph Records rose from nothing to one of the biggest independent labels, rise of Fat Wreck Chords, plus some of the anecdotes behind the scene that I did not know and were interesting to read. The book also nicely describes how Rancid formed and wrote some of the best and most iconic albums in punk rock of the nineties. Pennywise are also featured along with one or two great stories about their legendary guitar player Fletcher Dragge and his exploits. It also shows some of the nastier sides of label business, a nastier side of Brett Gurewitz, Bad Religion guitarist and Epitaph Records founder and owner, like also war between Green Day and The Offspring and how it started, so this one is indeed a great read if you like punk rock and history about some of your favorite albums.
Ach, there was a talk about lost album of legendary Descendents. This is a lost bunch of songs featuring Milo Goes To College line-up, I don´t know about you, maybe it is a sacrilege, but for me the best records of this band are the last three full lengths and older stuff is good, but every record has couple of songs that I just couldn´t swallow. This one is no exception from that rule. There are decent songs on this one, like You Make Me Sick, NIghtage, Tired of Being Tired, Mohicans and couple of more. But, there are also songs that did not sit with me well, not even on third listening. But, hey, these are Descendents and this is a valid document of one period in that legendary band´s career, so much respect and thank you for releasing this forgotten jewel of melodic punk rock.
Minneapolis based Off With Their Heads released their brand new full length album with Epitaph. This record contains 11 epic melodic emotional punkrock songs done with heart and kicking you right in heart and mind and bringing tears of sadness with a touch of melancholy combined with smiling and hope on your face and making you say thanks a lot for loving punkrock, loving this music and loving this band. The vocalist has one of the nicest voices that I ever heard in punkrock sounding harsh and melodic and sad at the same time. This is your melodic mid tempo, maybe even slow punkrock with some indie influences, I can even hear some doo wop and also pop in the song structures. I love all the songs, but if I must mention my favorites that would be: Disappear, Take Me Away, Let It All and Locking Eyes. For sure, one of the best albums to come out this year.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 