Fresh Picks: One Armed Joey.
One Armed Joey – Petaluma, California, USA.
If there’s one thing synonymous with California its Punk music and it is fair to say that despite many-a-strong Punk scene globally, more often then not the warm and nurturing climate of California regularly stands out.
Petaluma three-piece One Armed Joey have a penchant for sharp and jagged riffage and driven 90’s Punk-Rock rhythms but also melodic almost bratty Pop-Punk vocals that echo the genre’s golden age. In many ways they epitomise the classic Skate Punk/Pop-Punk Cali-sound that really won’t go away and that isn’t a criticism either. For if it isn’t broken…
… then why fix it? ‘White Windowless Van’ quite playfully hints at heavier band but at the same time sounds like a lovingly made concoction of vintage NOFX, Green Day, Sum 41 and GOB.
‘Ten Feet Deep’ is only the second track I set my ears too from the band and its darker melodies and driven Skate Punk marks another side to One Armed Joey with more skill than you’d expect in their writing. The Orwellian-titled ‘Thought Crime’ hits really quite hard and wouldn’t do so without the Ska-tinged NOFX verses and the light and melodic Pop-Punk chorus in contrast.
You listen to this first EP and you find it hard to believe it is simply that. Tracks such as ‘Timelines’ play with their soaring Pop-Punk further in what can only really be described as ballad while the closer ‘Seatbelts’ is a heartfelt battle of the mind.
The Best We Know How was released back in May of this year and not only again starts with an eponymous track but pulls at my never-growing-up twenty-six year-old heartstrings a little too much.
The previous despite its ballad-status was more a pop-led track and leads perfectly into the depiction of a complacent and monotonous existence, that can be hard to shake no matter the effort in the aptly titled ‘Groundhog Day’.
‘Walls’ plys the Skate Punk once more over sharp and jagged riffage and the usual One Armed Joey-melodies reminiscent (at least to me) of San Francisco contemporaries, CUT UP, who you can find – Here.
The Best We Know How very much takes a formula that was successfully punching above it’s weight and refines it before the next progressive plunge, whenever that may be. ‘Vagrant’ is another wave of jagged west-coast melodies that maintains its upbeat foundation but does leave a pang for harder sound.
Closing this band and this Fresh Picks we have ‘Occupied By Leaves’ and ‘You and Your Friends Are Dead (Game Over)’ which although are as musically strong as the rest of the band’s material, really shine with their heartfelt, real and honest cathartic lyrics. This is where this band are at their best.
Find the band below:
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