Make Out Music - Get Off My Soapbox CD Review

The 90’s were a hell of a great time for punk, weren’t they? You had the rise of both Fat Wreck Chords and Epitaph Records along with the myriad of ridiculously good bands on both rosters. NOFX was in the prime of their career, creating some of their most memorable tunes. Pennywise solidified themselves as punk gods. Face to Face, The Descendents, Lagwagon, No Use for a Name, Bad Religion, The Bouncing Souls, and so many other great bands were putting out seminal punk works. These were golden years for the genre, and we’ll probably never see such a strong punk movement again. Fortunately, there will always be at least a couple of bands that love the 90’s punk movement so much that they are unafraid to crank out some songs that would easily fit in back in that era.

Make Out Music present us with six quick songs that clock in at under 15 total minutes, but that still manage to provide us with a window back to the Epi-Wreck glory days. It’s pretty easy to pick out Make Out Music’s influences. You can hear the Bad Religion swagger oozing from “Get Off My Soapbox”. Simply replace Greg Graffin with a more grungy, nasaly singer and you'd have a picture perfect alternate universe Bad Religion b-side. “Ballpoint” at times gives you flashbacks to early 1208 with some modern crunch added towards the end of the song.

While we're talking influences, we can’t forget the blatant NOFX worship that is going on throughout the entire EP. The bass mirrors everything that Fat Mike has ever done. It’s not a bad imitation, but an imitation nonetheless, which is somewhat unfortunate because if each song didn’t sound quite so much like a blatant carbon copy of what has already been done slightly better a decade ago, this would be one hell of a throwback disc, paying homage to better days. As it is, though, it serves more as a reminder of what the good ol’ days were like and leaves you pining to go dig out your old Propagandhi and Bracket discs for a few spins.