Night Birds – ‘Mutiny At Muscle Beach’

For the most part, punk rock has remained one of the most unsullied genres over the years. While there are exceptions where it has been watered down, there are bands out there that like to keep things raw, real, and to the point. Thankfully, New Jersey’s Night Birds fall into the latter. They have been a staple of the punk community for several years now, and show no signs of slowing down on their new album ‘Mutiny At Muscle Beach’.

One thing that is clear from the start is that Night Birds wear their influences proudly on their sleeves. You can hear the reckless abandon of Black Flag, the simplicity of The Ramones, and the passion of Bad Religion throughout ‘Mutiny At Muscle Beach’ – creating an unrelenting album that clocks in at less than half an hour. Sure, Night Birds haven’t tried to reinvent the wheel, but why should they? The wheel is absolutely fine as it is.

From the opening chords of ‘(I’m) Wired’, you know you are set for a riotous album. The drumming is absolutely furious, and you can almost smell the burning skin against guitar fret boards during the whirlwind ‘Lapsed Catholics Need Discipline’. They even dare to break the unwritten punk rock rule of “no solos”, as they shred their way through the albums title track.

While we live in an age of studio trickery, and bands being able to manipulate their sound in countless ways, Night Birds have opted to keep things pure. You won’t find anything here that can’t be re-created in a live setting, and with the exception of a couple samples (including The Big Lebowski) very little has been done to alter the raw urgency of Night Birds sound.

As they drop things down to a classic half time beat on ‘Son of Dad’ (which we can only assume is an excellent Seinfeld reference) it offers a slight reprieve from the cacophony on ‘Mutiny At Muscle Beach’. It doesn’t last that long, though – ripping straight into ‘Off The Grid’, which features a vocal contribution from CJ Ramone. Before the album reaches its end, they hit their melodic stride on the surf-inspired closing track ‘Left In The Middle’, that is filled with rock ‘n’ roll swagger.

With countless bands searching to bring something new to punk, and seemingly every month a new sub genre is being dreamt up; it makes Night Birds third album seem more refreshing. ‘Mutiny At Muscle Beach’ does exactly what it is supposed to, and is nothing but a bold and brash album – full of energy and life, just they way punk should be. If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.

GLEN BUSHELL