Courtesy of Unable Records
The Bastard Suns – “My Pint”
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There’s nothing too radical about punk music, reggae influence is pretty mainstream nowadays, and most people are at least vaguely familiar with the concept of Irish drinking music.
Combining these three genres, however – well, now you’re getting innovative.
This is exactly what Atlanta band the Bastard Suns aims to do. With their clashing guitar chords and harsh, devil-may-care lyrics, the group is undeniably punk. But every now and then, some new instrumentation will take over and suddenly, you’re listening to a punk group perform in Jamaica, or perhaps in a Dublin pub.
The head-bobbing “My Pint” is a perfect example. Although the lyrics (“It’s all right as long as I’ve got a pint!”) fit perfectly with Irish – or perhaps just college – drinking culture, the drum beats make certain parts of the song sound like Bob Marley and the Sex Pistols had a few too many and started jamming.
The Bastard Suns like to keep things fun. This becomes most evident on “Drop the Hammer.” Although the song has a darker sound to it and contains the lines, “This world is too full of pain and there are too many to blame/They kill for fame/Or they kill and they claim that they did it in God’s name,” it’s still an ode to partying and finding a fun way to escape the harshness of reality.
Don’t pick up the Bastard Suns’ latest album – Dropping Expectations, a collaboration with punky pals No Fuego – if you want something thought-provoking. But on the eve of spring break, who would want that anyway?
To read more about Bastard Suns, check out our extended profile of the band online at www.emorywheel.com.
