The RadioActivist

Fire at Will? Who’s Will? And what did he do that we should be firing at him? With a title like Hoping for the Best...Expecting the Worst, you’d assume they’d be firing at Alphaville and their attempts to stay “Forever Young”. Actually, Fire at Will is a French hardcore band. Musically, a very good French hardcore band. But unfortunately, still a French hardcore band, which is the main problem with Hoping for the Best...Expecting the Worst. Their grip of the English language is not as developed as contemporary Francophone counterparts Nine Eleven, while their vocals are more decipherable than, say, No Guts No Glory. The result is that while the lyrics are not a complete massacre of the English language, they are distracting enough to substantially hinder what would otherwise be a great hardcore record. Everything else on Hoping for the Best...Expecting the Worst is solid, if not splendid. From the riffs to the tones, the guitars set the foundation, at the same time punishing and dynami...

It’s been almost six years since the Aquabats released an LP. SIX YEARS. Sure, they've been busy with their award-winning Nick Jr. television show, Yo Gabba Gabba!, producing The Aquabats Super Show! and touring the world several times over, but what kind of an excuse is that? Buncha slackers if you ask me. In a December 2010 interview with the OC Weekly, MC Bat Commander Christian Jacobs said Hi-Five Soup! would be “definitely a departure... I guess what we came up with is more Yo Gabba Gabba!-meets-the-Aquabats.” Expounding in AMP Magazine, he claimed, “I think this new record has more stuff like that on it, silly kid stuff, which is fun. It’s less trying to appeal to a little bit older crowd and just trying to appeal to the Halloween costume crowd.” Given that the Aquabats have never exactly been pandering to the inner grown-up in all of us, that should tell you how kid-friendly this album is. It’s got a gang chorus of what sounds like children and/or Brobee’s posse along with a...

In the second installment of the Ska Is Dead 7-inch club, Grand Rapids, Mich., veterans Mustard Plug combine with Montreal, Quebec’s the Beatdown for a split effort of Northern ska exposure. Mustard Plug has put out consistently good albums since 1997’s Evildoers Beware and only been on hiatus once since their formal formation in 1991. As a matter of personal preference, it’s always seemed like many of their major-scale songs are instant classics (“Yesterday”, “Go!”, “Beer”, “You”, “Box”, etc.), while their minor-scale offerings (“Never Be”, “Not Again”, “Mendoza”, etc.) are less infectious. Their offering here is kind of in between. “Aye Aye Aye” is, in some ways, a typical third-wave ska song, with fast, flickering upstrokes, intermittent horn blasts and walking bass. There’s no distortion overkill though, and the quality dual horn soloing helps stretch out the structurally standard song. If you generally like Mustard Plug, you’ll probably like this song. The Beatdown contributes a n...

No Good Reason is for, lack of a better description, a melodic hardcore band from Almada, Portugal. They sound female-fronted, but upon closer inspection of their MySpace page, it would seem that they’re all male. Maybe they’re just young? That would be one explanation for the high-pitched shouts, but the second song on the record is “College”, a look back at “Four years gone / And I'm glad I used this time to multiply.” Adding to the confusion is that Side A plays at 45 RPM, while Side B plays at 33 RPM. Have you ever heard of such a thing? It’s not a huge deal, but I've never run across it. The record begins with a nice hardcore guitar riff complemented with good tone and a rolling rhythm of kicks and snares. The vocals are distorted (and high-pitched, as previously exhausted), but the melodies are fairly good and the opener “Monument” is concise enough to work. The aforementioned “College” follows with more of the pleasant melodic hardcore guitar introduced in the first song...

Ska Is Dead began as a tour package in 2004 to prove that even though ska was officially dead to the mainstream, there was still enough interest to warrant large-scale shows from some of the scene’s biggest names and up-and-coming acts. The success of the tour and the five that followed proved ska wasn't really going anywhere, and rode that momentum to an Asian Man Ska Is Dead compilation CD and Skanksgiving celebration. The next logical step? A 7-inch vinyl series featuring the same array of heavy-hitters and newbies the tour has employed. A joint effort by Underground Communique, Asbestos Records and Ska Is Dead, the 7-inch club is a subscription-only series with a set of six split 7-inches. The particular split in question here is that of the prolific Vic Ruggiero of the Slackers/Stubborn All-Stars/Transplants/Crazy Baldhead/etc. and Maddie Ruthless on side A, with Brooklyn rocksteady ensemble the Forthrights taking up the other side. Ruggiero and New Orleans’ Maddie Ruthless co...

La Plebe became one of the biggest buzz bands in punk in 2007 when ¡Hasta La Muerte! was released by growing powerhouse Red Scare, though they've actually been around since 2001 and independently put out several releases since 2003. Even without Red Scare on Brazo en Brazo, La Plebe has another solid record on their hands that is sure to convert even more into believers of the bilingual horn-punk fiesta. The record begins with a traditional canción ranchera in ¾ tempo before kicking in the punk with trompetas blaring and gritas de unidad. Following is “Campesino” (farm worker), which proudly proclaims “¡La tierra para los que la trabajan!” (roughly “The land for those who work it”). The bravado politico continues on the bilingual “Jaulas”, which asserts “Racist fucking pigs that control this democracy / Don’t care about the damage to working-class families / Migrant workers face incarceration / The mentally ill don’t get rehabilitation.” The poppy left-wing punk maintains through “...

Apparently the Cheifs were a Los Angeles punk band from the early ‘80s who played alongside bands like the Circle Jerks, Black Flag and X. I can’t vouch for them because I wasn't around (well, maybe I was an idea), but judging from the raw, granular recordings and primitive punk disposition, I’d say that sounds about right. From the style and melodies, the Cheifs actually sound closer to late ‘70s L.A. punk bands like the Germs or Fear or Angry Samoans. They packed in too much melody to really be called hardcore and lacked the austerity of stalwarts like Black Flag and Uniform Choice. In place of the raw aggression and minimalism is developed musicianship and sugary multi-vocal melodies that put them closer in style to their neighbors to the south in Carlsbad, the Dils. Songs like “Eddie’s Revenge” and the title track, “Holly-West Crisis”, demonstrate a songwriting that seems more rooted in traditional pop than the unorthodox structures employed by early hardcore bands. Lyrically, ...