PS Eliot
“Living in Squalor EP”
(Freedom School)

(*****/5)

Alabama-based band PS Eliot is on an uptick right now. Their last two releases, “The Bike Wreck Demo” and “Introverted Romance in Our Troubled Minds” had all the trappings of really great 90s pop-punk: fuzzy guitars, literary lyrics, songs about drinking and making out. It’s like someone took all the emotional angst that goes into a mixtape and poured it into this band.

For their latest release, “Living in Squalor,” PS Eliot continues with their K Rec-meets-Discount brand of indie pop goodness, revisiting “Broken Record,” which appeared on their demo, along with four brand new tracks.

Let’s get it out of the way:  this 7” is fan-fucking-tastic. The whole thing. The songs are great; Freedom School did an excellent job with the packaging and I’d just like to add that I love buying records that don’t feel like those old flexi-discs that used to come as inserts in magazines. This record is pretty heavy, meaning I can play the shit out of it and not worry about having a busted copy after a month.

This is a natural addition to any fan, but it’s also a good introduction to the band for those who haven’t heard them yet.

Stream “Bear Named Otis” Here

Buy “Living in Squalor” Here

—- Ryan Pangilinan

New Creases
“About Last Night”
(Traffic Street/No Breaks)

(*****/5)

I don’t know if it’s because where my ears have been lately, but there are a rash of punk bands coming out of the woodwork who seem to embrace the notion of playing short, fast and loud melodic songs. Gone are halcyon days of Drive Thru or Tooth and Nail where labels would spend an insane amount of money on press and promotion in the hopes of getting shitty Blink 182 rip off bands upstreamed to Universal or Capitol.

Columbus, OH’s New Creases are one of these bands whose predilection for super catchy punk songs put them more in the company of J. Church, Discount and (old) Alkaline Trio. The band’s 7”, “About Last Night” is less than 20 minutes and as to-the-point as can be.

Starting off with the dancefloor ripper, “Come Around,” the EP does not let up and makes good use of the dual male-female vocals between Troy Allen and Mickey Mocnik. It’s actually the kind of recording that I can listen to on repeat for several times over.

The recording in itself sounds pretty good considering that most bands remotely related to the pop-punk genre spend more time trying to find ways to mask their shortcomings. The fact that this sounds like a completely live recording makes it even more attractive to the ears.

I’m not sure if New Creases will follow the route of every other newbie band and go from basements to theaters in a matter of months, but if anything, they know their way around a song.

— Ryan Pangilinan

Against Me
“White Crosses”
(Sire/WB)

(****/5)

The new Against Me record leaked and everyone about lost their shit. I had to spend the better part of my weekend navigating through tumblr among a sea of “they sold out” and “they suck now” and “the demo was better.” Productive, right?

I listened to the record and given the fact that Tom Gabel is about a year older than me, I really didn’t think it was terrible. In fact, if NEW WAVE was the record that broke them to mainstream press (arguably this is really SEARCHING FOR A FORMER CLARITY), than WHITE CROSSES is the record that will ensure that a) they have a longer shelf life and b) they’ll appeal to larger audience. Maybe not Green Day style, but at least on a My Chemical Romance level.

From what I heard and read on Gabel’s blog, the lyrics are pretty much what you would expect from a 30 year old punk dude: songs criticizing organized religion, wasteful youth and about (gasp!) growing up.

“Oh hell, growing up isn’t punx!”

No, but it’s sure as hell better than being “the old guy at the club.” Tom Gabel isn’t 17 years old anymore, so, if anything, I commend him for writing a rather uncompromising record about aging and keeping your values in check. More than that, however, I’m glad that the band didn’t put out an Against Me record that sounded like the last one. I would’ve felt ripped off.

WHITE CROSSES is, by far, not my favorite Against Me album; it’s not even the best one. But it is the most appropriate record I can see the band releasing, which is a lot better than I can say for some of their peers.

— Ryan Pangilinan

There’s No Wah-mbulance Here: The Ambulars vs. Totally Crushed Out
by Ryan Pangilinan

I first came across Washington DC’s The Ambulars through I Could Die Tomorrow, one of the best mp3 blogs on the internets. They wrote up this great description that piqued my interest (as all pop-punk bands that don’t sound like Fall Out Boy are apt to do). What I ended up with were two really great EPs that played non-stop on my iPod for nearly three weeks. When we decided to start Totally Crushed Out, The Ambulars were on my short list of bands I wanted to interview. I reached out to them via their Myspace and they were all cool enough to answer my questions.

TOTALLY CRUSHED OUT: How did the band get together?

MIKE: The three of us have known each other for a long time, though we had never played music together. Jen and Andy approached me at a show with the idea of doing an Alkaline Trio cover band just for the summer. It quickly evolved into an actually band with our own songs. The idea was to do an ephemeral summertime pop-punk band before Jen moved to Chicago.

The sound of the Ambulars has very little in common with contemporary pop-punk and seems to take a cue bands like The Promise Ring and Weston. Was this a conscious decision to not latch on to what kids consider “pop-punk” these days?

M: I think this is more of a product of our influences. We all grew up listening to pop punk bands so we have that common vocabulary, but I know at least my writing influences were not pop punk bands. They were more along the lines of 80’s and 90’s indie rock and shoegaze bands and K-records-type indie-pop, not that we necessarily sound like it. I think we all approached the songwriting with different musical points of reference, but we still had that shared common ground. I think “pop-punk” to us means something different than what it refers to nowadays in its current form.

JEN: That’s true, for me personally, when we were starting up I’d been listening to a lot of the type of pop punk you’ll hear at Insubordination Fest mixed in with a couple 90s favorites like Gin Blossoms - New Miserable Experience, Dinosaur Jr, and tons of Jawbreaker. Super summery driving sing along music.

ANDY: Our influences seem to come from all over the board, and for me this band is kind of a great attempt to balance the old with the new. The influence of pop punk and emo bands that I loved when I was a bit younger, like Saves the Day and Lifetime, has been really present for me in the writing process, in addition to music that is more currently relevant to me right now, like Bruce Springsteen and Dinosaur Jr.

The “Summer Fling EP” and “The Summer of the Ambulars” are sonically different in terms of recording and the stylistic approach to the band, but they still share a vulnerability. How did you choose which songs from the acoustic EP to record electric?

J: We wanted to represent as much of our whole range as a band as possible when we did the acoustic EP, so we each have at least one song on it where we do the main vocals.

M: “Summer Fling” was recorded more out of necessity than anything else. We had already begun to record “Summer of the Ambulars” [and] it was taking longer to record and mix than we had budgeted for. We wanted to have some sort of release for when we played a pair of out of town shows so we recorded an acoustic EP. Two of the songs were already electric live songs, we just decided to take a few and strip them down for a quick release. These two songs were recorded acoustically after a band practice. I think we just picked songs that we thought would make interesting acoustic versions. The other two were written and recorded at home specifically for the EP.

A: I read an interview with Thurston Moore where he said something like “if you can’t play it on the acoustic guitar then it’s not a real song.” While that may not be totally true, I do see what he means, how you should be able to strip a song down to its barest parts and still find something there that is tangible and relatable. That’s been the cool thing about this acoustic EP, is discovering the songs below the loud crunch of the guitars and the drums.

Are the writing duties split individually or is it a collaborative effort?

M: One of us will show up to practice with an idea or rough skeleton of a song. As a band, we build upon it and all contribute to it until it’s done.

J: We noticed right away that writing music together was totally not stressful and actually a lot of fun. I think the lack of pressure to be a certain way or fit into a certain genre or to have only one lead vocalist or whatever led us to explore our various interests together while writing and try combining different/new things that maybe we wouldn’t have otherwise. Also, because we work on all the songs together (including some lyrics), I think thematically everything became really intertwined. Practices became times for us to sit and talk about all the huge changes going on in our lives and around us at the time, dredging up old memories but also looking forward to making new ones. So dealing with change/growing in general is probably the hugest common thread in what we’ve written so far.
I noticed that the band is split up by cities, does this limit your touring time? M: Well, we don’t really tour. The distance thing is still being worked out. The plan was to have the band just exist for one summer and then break up (thus “Summer of the Ambulars”) but we all had too much fun to let that happen and our friends supported us. We play shows when the three of us are in town together, though the band is not constantly active.
A: It would be cool to tour…one day we’ll rent some old station wagon and tour around like National Lampoon’s Vacation.

There’s a real DIY sensibility that the band has that aren’t really present anymore. Would signing to a label be in the cards for you or even something that you’d welcome if given the opportunity?

M: The three of us met in a DIY punk scene, putting out zines and playing in hardcore bands so it’s natural for us to continue with that sensibility. I think we would be open to working with a label in some capacity, though it would obviously need to be the right label and the right kind of relationship. I think we are happy with our station as a DIY pop-punk band, and getting signed isn’t something we’ve really talked about and it certainly hasn’t been a goal of ours.

A: it would all depend on what we have time to do as individuals in the future. i would certainly welcome the chance if it was presented. being DIY doesn’t mean instantly turning down potentially neat opportunities when they come your way. but it’s hard to tell if it would permit in our life schedules at the moment. in your early to mid twenties life changes a lot very rapidly i am discovering, and commitments take you different places, both geographically and mentally, and you have to stay true to your path. you never know what’s coming down the road though, and I’d like to think we’d be open to many different possibilities.

Finally, what do The Ambulars have planned for the future?

M: We plan on playing shows whenever we can and possibly writing and recording a 7”, though all plans are purely speculative. This band quickly outlasted its life-expectancy so we still don’t know what we want to do yet.

J: We’d also like to do a longer tour, since we only had time to play local shows and a very small weekend tour this past summer. Since we’re all so busy with various things (grad school, other musical projects, multiple jobs, etc) the likelihood of us even attempting to make that happen before summer ‘10 is pretty slim, but you never know!

A: The future won’t know what hit it. we’re already constructing a practice space fit for underwater environments for after the polar ice caps melt. i guess that’ll make our station wagon obsolete but we’ll get some underwater hovercraft like in “Life Aquatic” and tour around to the different underwater punk houses and play cool shows.

The Ambulars Myspace

Download The Ambulars EPs Here and Here

Better than On Your Knees: At Our Heels Unplugs the Bright Lights of Nu-Hardcore
by Ryan Pangilinan

“I really wanted something that was just our logo and people would see it and recognize it as our thing,” said Alex Pulisci, the man behind Bay Area thrash hardcore outfit At Our Heels.

In a day when punk and its subgenres have turned into theme songs for movies and commercials (has anyone seen the Johnny Rotten butter commercial?), it’s quite refreshing to find a band like At Our Heels, a DIY group with limitless potential.

Coming from a situation with a rotating lineup, Pulisci found himself at a musical crossroads and started At Our Heels.

“We had, like, 15 different members or something,” he said. “I was doing the bulk of the writing and my writing style kind of changed, so I figured that starting a new band would be a good idea. Start fresh with new songs, a new name and new members.”

When the dust had settled, Pulisci’s project became more of a solo endeavor than anything else.

“The member situation didn’t work out so well and it ended up being just me. It ended up that it was a better way for me to work.”

Calling on friend and Heartsounds’ Ben Murray to man the drums, Pulisci wrote and recorded 2009’s self-titled seven inch (Heart in Hand Records).

Taking cues from the likes of American Nightmare, The Misfits and (early) AFI, At Our Heels’ doesn’t let up for a second and runs through six tracks in a little over seven minutes.

The band’s rampant, non-stop sound has also put them on the same bills with likeminded acts such as Trap Them, Verse, Final Fight, Lewd Acts and Pulling Teeth, to name a few.

Currently, Pulisci is splitting his time between school and a new At Our Heels full-length on Creator-Destructor, which he hopes will be finished next year.

“I’m trying to use my free time to polish up some songs…. We have three new songs that we’ve been playing live. We’re going to have a 10-13 song full length coming out,” he said.

“I’m pretty stoked on the new songs,” Pulisci added.

If their seven inch is any indication, then naysayers should take note: people may like their ‘core watered down or cut with neon colors, but for kids who still jam out to “Astro Zombies” before heading off to work or school, At Our Heels is the best band out there.

At Our Heels Myspace

Winged Rodents and Midwest Punx: Like Bats Vs. Totally Crushed Out
by Ryan Pangilinan

The Midwest seems to breed great punk bands like there’s no tomorrow. One such group is Indiana’s Like Bats, a band that mixes punk ferocity with melodic instrumentation and harmonies, not unlike J. Church or the Lawrence Arms. Their 2009 demo (recently reissued on Traffic Street Records) was one of the surprise EPs of the year and subsequent splits with Young Devilry, Strait A’s, and Rumspringer have only whet the appetites of kids who are paying attention.

Like Bats is gearing up for a winter tour, playing alongside the likes of Jettison and Lemuria, as well as a new 7” entitled, “Look on the Bright Side” (Traffic Street). Recently, singer/guitarist Mike let Totally Crushed Out pick his brain a bit about the workings of being like a bat.

TOTALLY CRUSHED OUT: How did Like Bats get together?

Well, Like Bats was a band I started when I was 16 with completely different people and a kind of different; way shittier sound. It went through a couple line up changes before it died. Then in October 2008, I broke up with my girlfriend and started writing songs that became our demo and I wanted to get a band together to play the songs. And I just really like the name Like Bats for some reason, so I decided to kind of extend it off of that.

On the demo, there’s an influence of fast melodic bands like Lawrence Arms, Screeching Weasel and 88 Fingers Louie. Is it fair to say that you guys have a pension for 90s punk?

Yeah man, 90’s punk is definitely one of my favorite styles of music. We all love bands like Jawbreaker, Red 40, Crimpshrine, Pezz and bands like that. But 90’s emo bands definitely plays a role as an influence as well.

Lyrically, the songs have been about the negative aspects of a relationship; are the songs autobiographical and if so, have you heard any responses from whom they might have been about?

Yeah, the songs on the demo are about a specific break up I went through. She actually got really pissed at me when she first heard it and didn’t talk to me for a while. Haha. But whatever, I don’t care.

Your tours, by and large, have been centered around the Midwest and parts of the East Coast. Are there any plans to tour out west?

Well this winter, we’re doing a southern tour. And in the summer, we’re going to do a full US, which will definitely include dates out west.

The demo has been reissued on Traffic Street and you have a 7” on the way; what other plans are in store for Like Bats?

Well, we got the tour this winter, and the 7” should be out early or mid January. After that, more touring and hopefully some splits and I just started writing the full length, but I have no idea when that will happen.

like bats Myspace

Traffic Street Records

Beating Heart Baby: Heartsounds Pump Blood into Punk Rock

by Ryan Pangilinan

No more than a few years ago, Bay Area metal act, Light This City, was one of the most revered underground bands out there. Their ability to find fans in hardcore kids and metal purists was not as common as in the years that passed as genre bending became the norm. When Light This City ended, drummer Ben Murray and Laura Nichol started Heartsounds, a pop-punk outfit that’s heavier on the punk and less on the pop.

“The idea to start Heartsounds came a month or two after LTC called it quits and returned home from tour,” said Murray. “Laura and I have been listening to punk rock for years and way before Light This City even started. We just happened to be fans of metal as well.”

Taking cues from bands like Strung Out and Jawbreaker, Heartsounds deftly combines melody with a punk rock sensibility. Also like those bands, Murray and Nichol don’t rely on sappy, vapid words for their lyrical inspirations.

“Laura wrote five songs lyrically, while I wrote seven,” explained Murray. “It has been a tough few years for me and a lot of the lyrical content is about the hopelessness I felt waking up every morning.

“I suffer from extreme anxiety which plagued me during Light This City…. It’s very unhealthy and writing about it was an amazing catharsis for some of these emotions and feelings.”

Working with Light This City producer, Zach Ohren, Murray and Nichol recorded their debut full-length “Until We Surrender,” which saw a release in August on Murray’s label, Creator-Destructor.

The album is non-stop from the opening chords of the artists’ call to arms, “The Song Inside Me” to the bombastic drums on “Our Last Hope,” “Until We Surrender” rarely lets up, though there are somber moments that could be found in the mix.

“The song ’10,000’ on the record is about [my dad’s diagnosis with Stage 4 brain cancer], and most of my songs’ content is influenced by that situation,” said Murray.

The bleak visuals that are the basis of Heartsounds’ lyrics contrast to the pop nature of their music, which surprisingly, has found an audience in some of Light This City’s fans.

“Tons of LTC fans have checked it out and loved it. While there are remnants of metal hidden in the record, it’s a pretty drastic change of style,” said Murray. “Needless to say, we didn’t think the reception was going to be great from Light This City fans, but we were proven wrong.”

Though the band’s shows have been regional affairs (both Murray and Nichol are in school), Heartsounds does intend to stick around and take on touring duties when their schedule allows it.

“We can’t be road warriors like we were in LTC, but I do know that both of us want to pursue this band as far as we can…. [There’s also] big news and plans in the works but you’ll just have to stay tuned,” teased Murray.

“Until We Surrender” is available through Creator-Destructor Records, as well as RevHQ.

Heartsounds Myspace