Pass the Flask are punk rock band from Midwest and this is their second full length album. The band says that they spent two years in writing and creating these 16 songs presented on this record, we all know which years that were. Pandemics, lockdowns, losses of friends and brutal Midwest winters were reason that this album is so fantastically dark and anguished. I love and enjoy every single minute of this one because this one totally sits on my heart because of some feelings and situations that I am in, so I can totally get myself into this album. This is not your fast and furious skate punk, this is punk rock in purest sense of the word, with rough vocals that somehow evoke all that stuff being sung about. Guitar work creates melancholy and sadness at the same time bringing goosebumps to my skin. Songs like ‘Smoke Stained Walls’ or ‘Fernetti Vedder’ are sure to become your favorites. But, songs ‘Cigarettes and Whiskey’, ‘See You Sometime’ or ‘There is Hope’ will break even the hardest hardcore heart and make you love your friends more, your family and try to cherish what you got, because life is so fragile and can be gone in a second.
Original Sharks are hailing from Brooklyn, New York, but they don’t play NYHC, they play melodic punk like it was played in the nineties on all those glorious bands and releases but also with some newer emo and pop punk thrown in here and there for good measure. There are eight songs on this little release, being quite short but effective. There you have your fast melodic skate punk in songs like ‘Old Standards’ or ‘Kit Carson’ but there are also slower more mid tempo heart rendering emotions of ‘Mudhound’. Vocals are a bit sad sounding, I mean like feeling sadness when singing and they are great. Backing vocal harmonies are just in right places and lyrics are personal, but written in a smart way and you can totally read them and think about and relate in your personal life, which once more confirms that music is life, life is music and we are in this scene because of that. This is a great band, so go support and throw some love their way. Record is ‘name your price’ but I am sure band will appreciate any kind of support and love.
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.
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