Labels: Fat Wreck Chords
Review by: Mark Skold
The Ataris have been causing a stir on the West Coast punk scene. Warren Fitzgerald signed them to Kung Fu Records and put out their debut “…Anywhere But Here” album. Everybody loved them, so Fat decided to get in on the act and put out an EP called “Looking Forward To Failure”. Fans and punk people alike were expecting great things from the follow-up, so here it is.
If you’ve heard the first album, you’ll know that the Ataris have a true sense of humor. “…Anywhere But Here” was really poppy and had lots of humerous songs about STDs and boring chord structures. For this one, they brought in a second guitar player and pretty much ditched the sense of humor. I’m not sure if this is a really good or bad thing….
There are plenty of good tunes here, but it’s just too much of a departure from their old stuff. I guess they need some time to grow into the new look. Or something.
In fact, the only thing really wrong with the album is “My Hotel Year”, which is all acoustic and shit. The majority of the rest of it are good, solid punky type songs, a la NOFX, Lagwagon ect. Pretty good stuff really.
All in all, this is just pretty good stuff. Just not what this reviewer was expecting.
Rating