Monday, September 15, 2008

Uhhhhhh.....Something witty


Happy Monday, time for the first actual post.

I’m going to start this off with the album I’m listening to the most lately: Missed the Boat, by The Steinways.


An introduction is in order. The Steinways are four friends from New York City, who came together a few years ago after their bands fell apart, and made something wonderful. Since then, they’ve put out two 7”s, Rocket Surgery and Unoriginal Recipe, and two full-lengths, Missed the Boat and Gorilla Marketing, which just came out this year.

Listening to Missed the Boat, it’s obvious that the band is fans of Screeching Weasel and The Queers. The short, fast pop-punk, about girls and…well, girls, is infectious and somewhat silly. The band shows a talent for writing memorable hooks, with KTV ending with the line “You’re so pretty, you’re so Asian, kiss me baby, I’m Caucasian.” I mean come on now. Joe Queer wishes he could write a line like that.

Grath, the lead vocalist, manages to convey that same sense of teenage angst and irritation with the ladies that shone through in a lot of MTX songs, while avoiding the dangers of sounding like a whiny little bitch about it. Not an easy task.

Overall, a fun album. It’s not Boogadaboogada, it’s not Love Songs for the Retarded, but it’s damn close. My one complaint is the length. Missed the Boat is 20 tracks, and only 21 minutes long. Not that that’s bad, but it could’ve been a little longer.

The three big pop-punk outfits, MTX, Screeching Weasel, and The Queers, are mostly gone, with just Joe Queer keeping it together. The Steinways look to be taking their place in the trinity for a new generation.

Now we just need a couple more.

I give The Steinways’ Missed the Boat three and a half out of five stars. A valiant effort, a great result, but it could still be better.

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