Posted on July 2, 2010 - by Editor

Record Reviews: The Real Mckenzies/ Misconduct/ Veara

Shine Not Burn
The Real McKenzies
Fat Wreck Chords

The great Scottish/Canadian Celtic punk flag bearers, The Real McKenzies, offer up their second live record, from a performance at the Wild At Heart in Berlin, Germany. If you haven’t had the pleasure of seeing the band live before, this acoustic set with an array of instruments including bagpipes, penny whistles & mandolins and more importantly members that hail from bands such as D.O.A (Dave Gregg), Good Riddance (Sean Sellers) and Descendents/All (Karl Alvarez)as well of course Paul McKenzie at the helm and his clan of drunken revellers offer a pretty damn fun and genuine representation of the band at their mischievous best. Mixing some traditional Scottish tunes with their punk rhetoric the McKenzies always aim to have fun and the banter and entertainment across the 21 tracks of this record is a great opportunity to bask in their drinking glory. It’s not all gimmicky though, the band are passionate and deliver an unapologetic and heartfelt set of songs, drinking is often at the forefront, but so are loss, family, roots but even in sadness they are compelled to enjoy themselves and have a great time. The crowd feedback and Paul’s banter with the punters on the record is often humorous and helps place you in the ale and whiskey stenched surroundings. There are a great number of classic McKenzie’s tracks too (delivered a little different to how you might know them); ‘Chip’, ‘Dropping Like Flies’, ‘Bastards’ and of course, set and album rouser ‘Bugger Off’. In the words of Paul ‘one of my favourite things to do in old age, is get fucked up on alcohol’ and if you need a soundtrack to your drinking, you can’t go wrong with “Shine Not Burn” as a companion.

One Step Closer
Misconduct
I Scream Records

Sadly this record had been sitting on the “to do” list for some time and I wish I had listened to Misconduct earlier. From the onset, the vocals of Fredrik Olsson will draw comparisons to Millencolin’s Nikola Sarcevic and understandably so (maybe it’s a Swedish thing) but ignoring the intro and the last track ‘Side By Side’ this is a gem of a record. It’s not breaking boundaries but the anthemic punk rock qualities, vocal melodies and massive riffs create a squeaky clean polished record, a love child if you will in sound and energy between Millencolin, The Unseen and Pennywise (crazy I know). I have read some fan comments suggesting the bands image has also seen a Gok Wan makeover to tie in with the sound, apparently a diversion from their previous two albums, but not knowing the band before “One Step Closer” I will judge them based on this records merits. ‘Closer’ ‘Family’, ‘Close My Eyes’ and ‘One Step Forward’ all stand out and could be sure-fire hits with their infectious hooks and sing along choruses, with well placed tempo shifts moving mellow moments along to breakneck speed punk rock. The band at times could be criticised of aiming to create radio hits alone but there is definite quality and potential there; the songs are ultimately a little formulaic and simple but very effective and to be honest if you don’t find yourself feeling pumped and  singing along, you best check your pulse to see if you are actually alive.

What We Left Behind
Veara
Epitaph Records

From the first chords of ‘We Have A Body Count’ I thought perhaps a label intern had mistakenly packed a New Found Glory album instead. The pop punk sound, too often is the victim of the copycat routine or clichés in relying on teenage angst and poppy doo-wops and cheesy sing-alongs. Not that Veara suffer from all of these and with Brad Wyrosdick on vocals, Veara doesn’t necessarily have a distinctive sound although they offer plenty of catchy songs with accompanying gang vocals, melodic choruses and guitars to bop along to. Apparently label mates A Day To Remembers are a massive influence on the sound too and co-production duty falls to that bands vocalist Jeremy McKinnon with Andrew Wade (who produced A Day to Remember’s records). It seems their influence perhaps has reined in Veara’s own sound too and perhaps the results are too restrained, not being aware of them before this record, but the record does suffer from a lack of variety and the sound grows tiresome far too quickly. Although ‘Pull Your Own Weight’, ‘Everything To Lose’, ‘Head For The Hills’ and ‘Being Kicked in the Face Has Never Been So Much Fun’ do stand out for me, the fast paced up-tempo tracks all blend together and as a whole there is a lack of distinction to a sound that has been forged by a number of bands over the years. Sadly disappointing for myself but I’m sure there will be a number of people who champion the sound that will praise its merits.