SURFBORT – Keep On Truckin’ LP (colour vinyl) (RSD 2022)

Record Store Day 2022.

Limited edition blue colour vinyl.

Without question, the sunnier side displayed here is at least partially due to the hand of producer Linda Perry. Perry took the band’s 45 second punk bashers and stretched them out and brought out the underlying songcraft. A lot of the songs here have a crisp snap and catchy, simple riffage, yet they are supplemented by big, broad strokes that are reminiscent of glam, or, if not that, then the 90s appropriation of glam via grunge. This is evident on tracks like “FML” or the amazing closer “Cheap Glue,” that sits between the intersection of glam Bowie, Bauhaus, and Nirvana. The argument, seemingly, is that Surfbort always were great songwriters but they needed an outside influence to pull joy out of the rage and frustration that ran over everything they put out.

Yet, the band does keep a few old-school-Surfbort punk ragers in there. “White Claw Enema Bonghit” is a hilarious tear down of Frat boy culture and it also underlines the subtext that perennially seems to be tied into frat boy hazing culture (you know what I’m saying). Also, “Killed by Food” could have ben on the first Descendents record or even something by Fear. What I particularly like about these tracks is why the title suggests something fun and stupid, if you dig down into the lyrics, there’s actually punk style political analysis at a pretty high level.