Labels: Snuffy Smile
Review by: Ian Cavell
The last Blew material you’ll get to hear because the band called it quits some time back. Now, Blew were by far and away the best punk-rock band Japan had to offer and their album on Snuffy Smile is a virtual necessity for any self-respecting fan of punk-rock. The two songs on this 7″, ‘Hold My Life’ and ‘Out Lost Common Senses’, both surfaced on their Mother Stoat 7″, which cruelly dashed my hopes of some previously unreleased gems turning up on this release. Think snotty vocals and emo tinged punk and you’re on the right track. I’ll throw a Broccoli comparison at you now, even if am the only person in England who didn’t actually rate Broccoli.
Boy Named Sue, meanwhile, are a nice contrast. American, punk-rock and, uhm, average. If the band, Walker, means anything to you then maybe you should check out BNS because they seem to be connected. Exporting pop-punk in the mold of bands such as Zoinks! and Sicko , BNS also have more than a distinct nudge towards a “UK pop-punk” sound that really, really reminds me of Travis Cut. Just not as good. Maybe its because I listen to this kind of stuff day in day out, but this band seem to lack that mystical quality that separates the great pop-punk from the merely average.