If you have no idea who Box Car Racer are, where have you been? The famous side-project of Blink 182 members Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker, this is allegedly a homage to the pair’s favourite bands, namely Fugazi and Refused. Opinion on how good their eponymous debut record is is largely split – you either love ’em or hate ’em, so I guess it’s fitting that I’m going to sit on the fence.
Some people claim that this is just a collection of songs that are too edgy for the next Blink record, but on the whole I’d tend to disagree. Yes there are some songs that could fit (‘Elevator’ being one) but on the whole these are too dark to be placed alongside the likes of ‘Fuck A Dog’. But at the same time there’s no real imagination here and I can guarantee that 10 years down the line people won’t be looking at Box Car Racer the way they look at Fugazi. Still, if you want edgy, catchy punk rock, then look no further.
The album opens with ‘I Feel So’, which has been hogging music channels near you for the last 6 weeks or so. It has an interesting piano introduction, followed by a minute of feedback and effects, rather nicely building things up. To be honest this is probably one of the best songs here, which means if you despise the song, you probably won’t like the album. Ironically Tom’s opening line for the record is “sometimes I wish I was brave,” and if only this was true. Because ‘Box Car Racer‘ is an album that doesn’t live up to its billing as a homage to Fugazi. It doesn’t take too many risks, playing it safe, you feel, so that Blink fans will find it accessible. Indeed, some of the tracks are too closely moulded towards ‘Stay Together For The Kids’ era Blink. Take ‘All Systems Go’ for instance, which has all the hallmarks of a Blink 182 track – the catchy chorus, quiet/loud bits etc. It’s a decent enough song, but hardly a departure from what we already expect Tom (or Thomas for the sake of this record) to come up with. It’s the same with ‘Watch The World’ – again it’s not a bad song, but it’s nothing new.
‘Tiny Voices’ is annoying and ‘Cat Like Thief,’ which faetures Tim Armstrong and Jordan Pundik on guest vocals, isn’t that impressive, especially seeing as though the guitar line is an exact rip-off of Alkaline Trio‘s ‘You’ve Got So Far To Go’. It’s not similar, it’s exactly the bloody same! ‘And I’ hardly stands out, which leaves the acoustic ramblings of ‘Letters To God’ as the next bit of quality. ‘My First Punk Song’ is a moment of absolute genius, a full-on pedal to the metal punk rock assault which is as far removed from Tom’s previous band as you’ll ever get. Infact his vocals are highly impressive in a snotty and snarling way, as they come across more like The Distillers than a goofy pop-punk band. It’s just a pity there’s not more like this.
‘Sorrow’ lumbers on, although after following on from such a great track it was probably always going to pale in comparison. ‘There Is’ begins with an impressive Travis drum beat, which remains the only consistently impressive part throughout the record. And as the track goes on all I can think of is how this could be the sequel to the Blink track ‘Adam’s Song’. I know there are a lot of Blink comparisons in this review, but listen to this record and it’s impossible not to compare. ‘The End With You’ is quite good, certainly one of the better efforts, whilst the last ‘proper’ song, ‘Elevator’ could have been so good but it just fades out and ends rather unspectacularly. It starts off brilliantly, featuring guest vocals from Mark Hoppus, setting itself up to be a classic track. But there’s no chorus and the song just slowly fades out.
Box Car Racer are not a bad band, but I did expect a lot more from this record. There are some memorable moments but some crap ones too and anyone who expects to hear anything more than radio friendly post-hardcore is going to be disappointed. I love Blink 182 and I desperately wanted to love this record, but I just cannot. With all the hype surrounding the release you’d expect a little more than what you get. ‘Box Car Racer‘ is good, but not good enough. In simple terms, it’s a pissed off Blink 182 without the jokes. Just watered down post-hardcore for the mainstream…
Paul Savage