Dead End Drive In – A Worthwhile Endeavor

2022 has been, in my opinion, one of the best years for new music since the turn of the century. Especially the last few months, I feel like I keep coming across a new album that just blows me away and I put it on every chance I get. No more NPR and podcasts on the drive across town, too much excellent new music. I’m overwhelmed by it at the moment. I’m a busy man, I have a family. I don’t have time for it. You can imagine my annoyance when I was tasked with reviewing this new Dead End Drive In, put it on, and it just absolutely fucking rips end to end. Goddamn it.

I’m embarrassed to write this review because I like this album so much. It will require some restraint on my part to not make it read like a bad puff piece. I swear I don’t know anyone in this band, nor do I owe them any favors. I keep listening to it trying to find something critical to say that doesn’t make me sound like an idiot, but whatever, I can’t. It’s great. Let me get this over with and tell you why I think so. 

The only thing I know about Dead End Drive In lies within the descriptor on their Bandcamp page, which reads as follows: “Punk band from Vancouver, BC. You know. That one with three guitar players. Gotta shred with existential dread.” This last line describes their sound appropriately. It appears to be their second full length, having also released a CD/digital album in 2018, and an EP in 2016. They don’t seem to have a presence on Discogs, which suggests they’re still a fairly humble outfit. However, their name is also comprised of a bunch of words from other band names, so it’s possible I just overlooked it. Their level of notoriety will change drastically if this record gets into enough ears out there.

The opening track has a sort of Frontier Trust sounding cowpunk vibe to it, and clocks in at 6:23. Pretty fucking bold for a punk band you’ve never heard of. It didn’t catch me first time around, but as I became more familiar with the rest of the album, I’ve really come around to liking it.  Just don’t give up on these guys if you aren’t blown away halfway through track one. It isn’t called “A Worthwhile Endeavor” because it’s a waste of your time. All these songs, many of which double or triple in length from your standard punk fare, are all part of a larger thing. I hate to use the term “concept album”, but this product is best consumed whole. Fast forwarding through the seemingly unremarkable parts would detract from your overall appreciation of the whole thing. Stick with it and you will be rewarded.

By track two things start to open up a little into more of a straightforward punk sound, but there are just so many cool parts, leads, and instrumentation to each song that it’s somewhat misleading to suggest it’s anything less than pleasantly surprising. Overall, I would say they sound like if Jon Kastner (Doughboys) and Tad Kuebler (The Hold Steady) were in Teenage Halloween. I also hear some Darius Koski Swingin Utters. I even have D. Boon written down in my notes here. I can’t quite put my finger on why, but I stand by this reference. This band can really play their instruments, and the more complicated parts positively contribute to the composition rather than coming across as cumbersome and indulgent. The quality of songwriting is just stellar. 

It’s hard to pick favorite songs on complete records like this one, but if pressed I’d say I prefer the back half of the album. Namely, “Dying Breed”,  “Before I Start Noticing”, and “God Forbid You Go off Script”. Nothing on here sounds redundant, and even at 10 tracks in 45 minutes it doesn’t feel overly long. On a couple of occasions I’ve even restarted it from the beginning and listened to it twice all the way through. 

I know people can get lazy buying new music for themselves around the holidays, but don’t sleep on this one. Who cares if it disrupts your album of the year rankings that only 12 people will read? It’s going to disrupt mine, and I’m grateful for it. I need a physical copy of this one, in case any of you haven’t got me a Christmas present yet. 

–Zack Akenson

Photo by Alice Hong

Alberta Canada’s Trashed Ambulance Release New Standalone Single “Cyntax Error”

Alberta Canada’s Trashed Ambulance has unveiled the new standalone single “Cyntax Error,” which follows on the heels of the band’s third LP, 2022’s critically celebrated ‘Future Considerations.’

The single is a loving tribute to Thousand Islands Records label co-owner and label manager Cynthia Charpentier, in honor of her recent birthday. The band says, “When a great friend/mom-ager turns 40, you have to make sure she feels the love. This song is an ode to Cynthia for always kicking ass and taking names while being the best gal East of the Saskatchewan River!”

Stream “Cyntax Error” here: https://bfan.link/cyntax-error.

Cyntax Error Written by Josh Hauta, Jason Ezeard, and Riley Bourne Guitar/Vocals – Josh Hauta Bass/Vocals – Jason Ezeard Drum/Vocals – Riley Bourne Additional Vocals – Casey Lewis Recorded at Echo Base Studio in Calgary, Alberta Recorded, engineered, and produced by Casey Lewis. Mixed and mastered by Casey Lewis.

Inspired by the likes of Pulley, Face to Face, and The Flatliners, Trashed Ambulance continues to churn out gloriously angry yet hopeful punk anthems! Formed in 2014, Trashed Ambulance has survived a plethora of member changes and hangovers to continue forging ahead as a reputable option in the Central Alberta punk scene.

With a handful of EPs, LPs, CDs, and cassettes already under their belt, the boys hit Echo Base Studio in Calgary to work with Casey Lewis (Belvedere) on their most recent LP ‘Future Considerations.’ To date, the band has shared the stage with such punk juggernauts as Face to Face, Belvedere, Voodoo Glowskulls, The Real McKenzies, The Murderburgers, and Ten Foot Pole and have even made an appearance at Pouzza Fest – Montreal’s annual premiere punk fest.

The guys already have some Western Canadian tour dates lined up and plan on terrorizing as many pubs, curling rinks, and bowling alleys as they can play this year.
Trashed Ambulanced Cyntax Error

Bar Tape – S/T

If forced to make a wild guess about where and when this album was recorded after a blind listen, you might say somewhere in the Twin Cities around 1995. As it turns out, Bar Tape are currently a band from Dublin, Ireland, but consist entirely of ex-pats from the US. Perhaps because they don’t sound Irish at all, or because my raging ADHD didn’t allow me to digest the final 25% of their Bandcamp header “Bar Tape: Dublin, Ireland”, I assumed they were from Dublin, Ohio. I like to treat every review as a geographical learning opportunity, so I started reading up on the Columbus suburb while listening to these songs. It’s no longer relevant, but that’s where Wendy’s has its headquarters. The depths of Dublin, Ireland’s history is far too heavy to be trivialized by the opening paragraph in an online punk review, so we’ll leave that one alone too. 

I’d be doing Bar Tape a disservice if I didn’t first talk about how excellent the band members’ punk names are. On vocals/guitar we have Cory Hotline, which is a reference to a golden age Simpsons episode that they also sample before one of the songs. On guitar we have Barry Tape. Classic. On drums/vocals we have Colin Sick, which has to be one of the greatest punk names of all time. Lastly, on bass/vocals we have Juvenile Delinquent, which strikes me as funny because there’s no effort in word play whatsoever. 

I’d like to think there’s a fun story here as to why an American punk band moved to Ireland, but the only thing I could find about them aside from the music was a one question interview from Scene Point Blank. In it Cory Hotline says, “I figure if we were around 20 years ago, we’d be more popular. We’re still delighted with the reaction we’ve received from Irish punks/hardcore kids and rockers, despite the lack of local press.” It’s funny to think of this sound as retro now, but I guess it is, and I guess we’re all old. I read somewhere (there will be no footnotes, so please don’t look for them) once where Paddy from D4 talked about how his Ramones were Naked Raygun. That’s the type of pop punk we’re talking about here.  

Any one of Sara Kirsch’s early 90s projects mixed together with Dillinger Four seems like a fair comparison, or maybe Sludgeworth meets Shang-A-Lang. Another old Minneapolis band Man Afraid also comes to mind. Like all those bands, Bar Tape makes sing along punk songs full of hooks that also manage to sound hard. The production is raw, but in a special way an old Ebullition 7″ with a photocopied sleeve is. I wouldn’t say anyone in the band knows how to sing, but nobody is over-fabricating a contrived punk voice to make up for it. The vocalists sound like Sarah Kirsch on those early Pinhead Gunpowder and Fuel records, which I love. Mix that together with the awesome rawness of Shang-A-Lang, the leads of Sludgeworth, and the power of Man Afraid, and you have yourself a record you should probably get your hands on.

–Zack Akenson

Pre-order here: https://distrotable.com/products/bar-tape-s-t-lp