Eternal Boy – Thirty Something
“Actually, I play in a band“. Just say that, and the eyes of the person that you’re talking to light up like a Christmas tree. Or, so you hope it will always be. Playing in a band is like riding a motorcycle. It’s either impressive and cool or worrying and suspicious, based on the time, place, and the person making the claims.
Some things are classic. Nobody will complain about learning Shakespeare if you’re an actor or painting daffodils if you’re an artist. Similarly, if you decide early on in life that your vocation is to play prog-rock, nobody will bat an eye nor pretend to be very interested in your key changes.
When it comes to eager, earnest pop-punk full of energy, the story is a bit different. It’s a style based, conservative thinking that would have you believe in the energy and hopefulness of youth. What happens once some of that youth fades away? You’re not just gonna go and play jazz now, are you? Of course not, you barely know any chords. You’ve been playing in a pop-punk band.
Eternal Boy face their critics on Thirty Something, a tender look at a life spent making childish, fun, exhilarating pop-punk. A melodic ode to refusing to let dreams die, Thirty Something is the answer to the question, “I wonder what those 2000s punk kids might be doing now?” Still not sucking.
Bad Flamingo – Mama Raised You Right
Only a few rockstars worked on hiding their identities from the general public back when popular music was becoming part of most people’s everyday lives. The few that did attempt to do this, indeed, elicited a tremendous reaction from the public that began trying to work out the mystery.
But, those that did hide behind masks were in the minority? Why would anyone want to hide fame and success anyway? If you were lucky to have been born in a wealthy Western country, why would you hide your desire for success? There’s nothing viewed in more favourable terms than ambition, right?
Perhaps it is a symptom of the time that many noted music stars, belonging to genres as varied as pop and metal, choose to keep their identities a secret. We might just be in a time where truth-telling is best delivered behind the mask. Bad Flamingo are among the best to do this. Their music is sophisticated yet full of venom. We’ve had the pleasure to review them before and can now confirm that behind the mask, there’s an interesting vision and worthwhile songwriting skills.
