Not Tonight and The Headaches – ‘If You Were Real You’d Do Your Own Stunts’

Not Tonight and The Headaches – Grimsby, England, United Kingdom.

Not Tonight and The Headaches are a Grimsby based band and are on a mission to resurrect nineties Pop-Punk, an era that brought us NOFX, The Offspring, Green Day and many more. Back to the present now however and in true Pop-Punk style they have released their second album, If You Were Real You’d Do Your Own Stunts.

Merging styles reminiscent of Blink-182, Alkaline Trio and NOFX, this fun four-some really know how to deliver good Punk-Rock – no bullshit, just catchy, fast, upbeat tunes, guaranteed to make you dance and tug on your heart strings.

Every track takes me back to the days of drinking cheap Beer in the park and playing on the boys Skateboards. It’s all very nostalgic, so lets find out why.

The title track ‘If You Were Real You’d do Your Own Stunts’ opens the album. Melodic, light, and pretty chilled for the opener of a Punk album, it sets the bar for what’s to come.

Going straight onto ‘Goodbye Kiss’, which is a lovely song to say the least and perfect for the once-Emo-Punks from back in the day, with myself included!

Track three, ‘Thick as Thieves’, really delivers the goods. My personal favourite off the album, it tells the story of hard times suffered, accompanied by perfect harmonies, rhythmic guitar and a very catchy chorus. Definitely the highlight of the album, it’s clean cut and poppy and the desperation in the vocals are a perfect fit with the melancholy lyrics.

‘Reasons to Smile’, the perfect break up song or perfect make up song? I can’t decide. Again, slow riff, heart-felt lyrics and fast drumming make a perfect Punk-Rock love song.

Track five, ‘State of Confusion’, combines powerful lyrics and a simplistic beat, reminiscent of an early Blink-182. While track six, ‘Guess This Is Progress’ is the most political song on the release. All good Punk albums need one, right? It combines relatable lyrics with the same speedy and catchy rhythm we’ve seen so far.

Track seven bursts through like an old Rancid track, ‘She’s With You’ has a great Oi! feel to it. Very fast and quite captivating, it’s the most upbeat track on the album and if I had the balls to slam dance, I would!

Track eight, ‘Dislocated’, opens with an upbeat progression, with a catchy riff and flawless harmonies working perfectly together.

Time for track nine, ‘Apologies’ and the album is coming to an end and I’m getting sad. Mark Hoppus styled vocals mix well with the again, relatable lyrics and the harmonies in the chorus leave that sad feeling in your gut. The kind of lyrics you can manipulate to reflect any situation in your life, and make you feel better when you listen to it.

Track ten, ‘Falter Ego’, is a flawless acoustic piece that brings a sense of calm on contrast to the ferocious drumming and guitar riffs. The perfect relaxed way to finish a perfect album.

The last thing you’d expect to come out of Grimsby is one of the best underground Pop-Punk bands of recent years, but alas, The Headaches have done it! The band would fit perfectly into a 1996 Warped Tour line up.

With all the humour of NOFX, and the emotion of Alkaline Trio, I can’t find anything wrong with this album. It’s well produced, well put together and it definitely compares to some of the best Pop-Punk albums of all time – I’m talking Smash, Enema Of The State, S&M Airlines & From Here To Infirmary.

Now, if like myself, you remember being a troubled teenager back when all life’s problems could be solved with Matt Skiba’s voice or Travis Barker’s insane drumming, and although Pop-Punk has been underwhelming in recent years (in my opinion), Not Tonight and The Headaches have really brought it home with this incredibly catchy, un-Americanised, cleverly titled second album.

• Find the band on Facebook for all things headache related.
• This release and the band’s other recorded works can be found on their bandcamp page, along with tasty merch.
• Don’t forget to check out their first album, Love…And Other Weapons Of Mass Destruction in particular, as if you end up liking it as much as I do, you should buy it and sponsor a headache today!

#StayFresh