As Joseph Grillo from Garrison once told me, there are more good bands that come out of Boston than you care to think. And he’s not wrong. Although in popular punk circles The Mighty Mighty Bosstones are quite possibly Boston’s greatest export, there are some new kids on the block coming out of the area who are causing a bit of a fuss. Infact they are causing so much of a fuss that Nitro Records stood up and took notice – then promptly signed them. The Lost City Angels, a five-piece that owe as much to AFI and The Stooges as anything you may see on MTV, are another band bursting out of a scene that is rapidly bringing more and more bands to the forefront of their respective genres.
LCA’s self-titled release is a rock and roll journey that spits out attitude at 100 paces. It’s a record that has enough fury and spirit, as well as a party atmosphere, to keep the majority of music fans entertained. The first thing that you notice about this Nate Albert-produced record is the fact that there are some fantastic riffs on the album. Opening track ‘First Things First’ has an excellent guitar line that pounds out from your speakers and when combined with Ron Ragona’s more harsh than your average vocals, you have a band that already set themselves up for being a bit different.
In the space of just 30 minutes, LCA set themselves up very nicely for a lasting future in the punk scene. Each song has its own imprint, yet there is enough melody and enough hooks to attract even the poppiest pop-punk kid. The mountainous riffs are again evident with the fantastic ‘Think Yer Alone?’ – a song which shows that not everything is as hunky-dory as some bands would let you believe. It’s this grit and realism that maybe separates the band from many of their contemporaries. Again only 140-seconds in length, the song thuds straight into the fantastic ‘Edge of 21’, a song rapidly becoming a LCA anthem. Melodic with a huge hook, it again has a sense of realism that really attracts the listener. There’s no wanking jokes in the lyrics here, this is real life folks. ‘Edge of 21’ is also the song that I’d recommend you hear as a starting point, because if you like this, you’ll pretty much love the rest of the album.
‘If You Go’ slows the pace down slightly, with the riff reminding me a little of some of the slower MxPx numbers, while ‘New Haven’, a track about sorrow and regret, is an aural attack on the senses without losing any of that singalong ability. ‘Lost and Gone’ is almost like a short story such is the detail in the lyrics, even if the tale that it tells is a little cliched. Not the strongest song on the record, but this is possibly because the riffs aren’t quite as instant as some of the others. But ‘Another Beaten Soul’ makes up for this by rocking out in true LCA style.
A cover of ‘Good News’ stays relatively faithful to the original, with the guitar tones and effects kept reasonably similar in a bid to recreate that 70s sound. Ron’s vocals even add an extra dimension, sounding a little less Bostonian. Maybe I’m just looking for a change which isn’t there, but it’s a welcome temporary respite in attempting to pay homage to a song which isn’t routinely covered by a lot of bands. Token ballad ‘Caught In Time’ is an attempt at pulling at the heartstrings, and while it is a good song it seems like a No Use For A Name castoff from their last sessions rather than anything too original. It is a good song, don’t get me wrong, but it’s just a little too obvious. Closer ‘Dreamgirl 89102’ turns the amps back up to 11, with a riff that was surely inspired by some of the 80s hair metal acts we all know and love. An interesting use of a wah-wah pedal also keeps things fresh and it’s a good way of closing the record.
Lost City Angels are a band that live on the road and there’s no doubt that they will be playing a town near you in the near future. This is as solid a debut as any that has been released in the last 12-months, showing that melodic punk rock does not have to include lyrics that take a tongue-in-cheek swipe at your ex girlfriend, or even resort to songs about pirates or sex with dogs. Sure, there’s a place for all of that, but there should be a large portion dedicated to the gritty realism of bands like LCA. Open your ears and your mind and check out a band that tell it exactly how it is.
Paul.