Bad Astronaut: Honest Don’s Don
Acrophobe Records
What makes a Bad Astronaut? Surely it’s acrophobia, the fear of high places, but in this case Bad Astronaut is made up of so much more. To further perpetuate my theory that: “Old punks never die and younger punks go on to work with someone else in an effort to reinvent themselves, Bad Astronaut has arrived.
This collective features: Joey Cape (Lagwagon, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes) on vocals, Marko 72 (Nerfherder, Swingin’ Utters) on bass and Derrick Plourde (Lagwagon) on drums. All too often when musicians move on to new projects the results can be a bit sketchy. But that is not the case with this 10-track release. Sure it sounds like the maturing punks that they are and they admittedly, (obviously) borrow styles from Jawbreaker, Rush, Foo Fighters and Elliott Smith, yet they keep all that stew in an up tempo consistency. In the grand style of Me First and the…blah blah blahs, they have included a cover of Elliot Smith’s “Needle In The Hay” and Hedy West’s “500 Miles”.
Rating: B-
V.L.
