NOFX So Long and Thanks for all the Shoes Review

This originally appeared in issue 13 of Married Punks, published in 1998.


NOFX So Long and Thanks for all the Shoes

This is NOFX's best release since White Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean.  You already know what NOFX sounds like (I'm assuming too much maybe), so I won't bother with heady descriptions.

The CD's title is a take on a popular sci-fi novel (if you don't know it, you need to read more), and the songs have the same humor and insights that the book has.  Songs like "It's My Job to Keep Punk Rock Elite" and "Murder the Government," "Kill Rock Stars," and "I'm Telling Tim" are as humorous as they are telling.  NOFX ain't afraid to slay a few sacred cows, and the guys have fun doing it.

Say what you will about NOFX, but the fact remains that it is one hell of a band that oozes talent like a rancid wound leaks pus.

The Howard Stern bit at the end is great, too.  I miss that aspect of the East Coast.

New Bomb Turks At Ropes End Review

From Married Punks 13, published in 1998.


New Bomb Turks At Ropes End

For those that liked Scared Straight, New Bomb Turks' first Epitaph release, this CD will be equally welcome.

New Bomb Turks is straightforward rock 'n' roll with a punk attitude.  When Eric sings, "I'm a singer, I don't care/Just want your creamy thighs" in "Raw Law," it's more Rolling Stones than it is Sex Pistols.  To quote my dad, "Nothing wrong with that."  And there's not.

New Bomb Turks is synonymous with high energy music.  The title song proves that.  The band, from Ohio of all places, knows that its roots lie as much with old rhythm and blues as they do with bands like The Ramones (if only for the ability to get people moving).  Not many other bands could make a harp, banjo and piano sound so slick.  New Bomb Turks does, though, and that's why the band is so damn killer.  It flows in all the right directions.

The band, like any good rock band (although not necessarily any good punk band) understands that rock music, with all its guitars and primordial ooze, is all just about sex.  It should leave you as breathless as a gigantic orgasm, and just as sweaty.  Unlike many rock bands, however, New Bomb Turks has a firm ground in the punk scene, so I doubt the sexual aspect of the music is discussed, or possibly even realized by the band.  Ask yourself this, though: What's a better band to screw to -- New Bomb Turks or Crass?

Mange Junkie Review

This originally appeared in issue 13 of Married Punks, published in 1998.


Mange Junkie

Mange is equal parts plodding metal and inmate-at-the-asylum vocals.  Pure metal, you could say.  Good deal!

Of the four songs on this demo, it's hard to pick out the best one -- each has something to offer both lyrically and musically, though "Senseless Deceit" is the weakest of the group. 

Word has it that a 7" may be in the works.  That would definitely be a plus.  Mange needs to put something else out soon!