Trusty – Demo

(c) 2008 DC-Jam Records
Rating: ★★★½☆

From the halls of obscurity to the mp3 folder of your fancy dang-fangled technology comes a blast from punk rock past.   Trusty–Hailing from Little Rock, Arkansas–delivers with their “Demo” in a way that only 80’s ‘hardcore’ punk can.  The disc, (presumably re-mastered from the original source) has that sweet combination of lo-fi and high intensity all while satisfying the needs of your inner angst-addled youth.  According to their MySpace page, “in 2008, Trusty signed with Midwest record label DC-Jam Records to re-release The Paul Years as a 20th Anniversary special Edition CD that includes some never before released material.”  I’d like to point out that this, being the only Trusty material that I’m familiar with, it is all new to me.  What you get with “Demo” is 11 tracks (some superfluous and silly like “Find Bircho”) of punk rock in the vein of Minor Threat or maybe even fello Arkansas brethren Econochrist, albeit more melodic.  “Demo” is good based primarily on its youthful urgency.  There is something genuine and heartfelt about a group of kids that pickup instruments and fight back against a world that they are maligned against.  That said, youth may also be many a bands shortcoming.  The songs, for their intensity, often lack depth and focus and the lyrics tend to lean towards rhymed couplets.  Not that I’m criticizing, you should hear some of the shit I wrote back then.  Nevertheless Trusty brings me back to my early punk rock formative years of garage bands and sneaking out to see shows on school nights.  If you have a longing for some fresh material of yesteryear, hop on over to the DC-Jam site and pick up on a copy of “Demo” from Trusty.

–Jerry Actually