Pizza Tunes From Holy City Zoo

I need to stop judging people, things, bands, whatever based on a three second impression.  Because lets face it, if I was to do that with a band that describes themselves as “We're a Post-Parkour band making pizza tunes since Two Thousand and Something.” on BandCamp I would have never listened beyond the sound of me shutting off my speakers.  I don’t want to say “penisloaf” but yes.  

But really, what would be the point of this review if I just left it at “penisloaf”?  I’ve written some dumb posts but that would probably take the cake.  Or loaf.  Instead, may I introduce you to Holy City Zoo, a local punk band, and the inaugural effort to bring more bands to Up The Pucks.  

Part of the Tiny Giant Artist Collective (the Collective includes The Front Bottoms, Pentimento, and The Nico Blues), the New Brunswick quartet has been hitting the local scene hard since 2010 and it’s hard to not like them.  Hell I’ll freely admit it.  Y’all know me, I was asked to stop reviewing shows because I literally saw the same 4 bands over and over.  And here I am, willing to let Joe, AJ, Frank, and Brian to to the sacred space of my headphones.  

On February 7th, Holy City Zoo released their latest single, Grandview Terrace, clocking in at just under 6:20 it’s one of their longest song to date.  In previous albums, like Nobody Sells for Less and Everybody Sells For More, they followed a more traditional punk style of under 3:00 and done.  Grandview Terrace has the guitar precision of Fall of Troy but the vocals of early Taking Back Sunday.  

Not your thing?  Then I suggest Everybody Sells For More.  

The words “Holy shit Dead Kennedys” might have escaped my mouth as Everybody Sells For More starts.  Sure, the song titles evoke the wordplay found on a Fall Out Boy album, but these songs are anything but boy band emo pop punk.   The vocals on Givin’ Him The Business are eerily similar to Jello Biafra, that flat but powerful sound that keeps the record on repeat.  

The sound ebbs into a more Chiodos sounding group, but without that needed to dress like this:

But really, stop reading my words and head over to their BandCamp page and give it a whirl, they have more releases than just the three mentioned.  Make sure you check out the evolution of the band, all of their work is well worth the listen and a few bucks if you're feeling generous.  

Don’t like their music?  Then hit me up on the Facebook page, Twitter, or email and submit your local band for next month’s feature.  

UTP Reviews: Streetlight Manifesto's The Hands That Thieve

In order to prevent Cait from hunting me down and smothering me with a pillow in my sleep I will now proceed to write a review of The Hands That Thieve by Streetlight Manifesto.

The big reason that I haven’t written a review yet, besides being lazy, is that I really like to take my time with Streetlight Manifesto albums. Or album if you’re counting the ones that has been released since I started to write reviews. I wasn’t enthusiastic about Somewhere In The Between when it first came out, and it was not until a couple months later that I understood how good of an album it was. Things were quite different with The Hands That Thieve (THTT). From the first listen I was getting into nearly every track on the album. Time will tell, but this newest release may emerge as my overall favorite Streetlight album.

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What Would Punk Rock Jesus Do? A Review

Finally a book review that has nothing to do with steamy sex and every thing to do with a Punk Army.  Released on April 9th, Punk Rock Jesus by Sean Murphy is a Vertigo published graphic novel about cloning Jesus, the evils of reality tv and Corporate America, the IRA, and punk rock music.  I was expecting something crazy but ended up with a whole mess more.  

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Punk Rock: Mewling Kittens or Chainsaw Jugglers

Wow, I'm lazy. With the lockout in full swing I can't say I've felt all that motivated to get back into blogging, music or otherwise. Anyways, the following post has been kicking around in my head for weeks now so I'd thought I'd throw out into ever gentle pools of UTP.
A few weeks back I made a terrible mistake. While reading some news article or another on Punknews.org I sunk down to the comments section and floundered about in the questionable content that often swirls in frightening Internet eddies formed in the info streams of the .Org. One particular comment caught my attention that day. A reader of the site remarked that the problem with modern punk music is that is simply is not the dangerous music that it once was. I found the statement intriguing and since then I have been tossing it back and forth in my mind in attempt to gain a really thorough understanding of how I feel danger relates to modern punk rock music.

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UTP Reviews: Handwritten by The Gaslight Anthem

With far more speed than I ever seem to manage alone, Cait and I have prepared an all new review. Our timing is a bit better on this podcast with Handwritten having been released sometime recently. I just started working and have a killer commute until I move, so I'm wipped and thus am going to keep this short. 

Please, to enjoy.

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