A quote from the 1987 film “Wall Street”, kicks off Good Riddance’s 9th full-length album, but still in 2019 the sentiment rings true and we’re faced not with the same fears and worries but bigger ones.
Good Riddance was on hiatus/break up then with the most excellent comeback in 2015 with ‘Peace In Our Time’. Now, Four years on from that, the band delivers something of a gradual follow up, with a cheeky sideways glance at the often trouped out sentence, “Thoughts and Prayers”. Hollow words that really don’t mean a whole bunch when politiciens trot them out after a school shooting or mass killing but hey they think they’re hoodwinking the public so…
American politics is always been a giving topic for punk rockers and Good Riddance find plenty of material and inspiration inside the Trump circus currently pitching its tent on the white house lawn that well just keeps on giving.
Anyway, Bill Stevenson has been like the band’s secret weapon since 1999 producing everything the band has released and given them a tight and big sound that really suits their style of punk rock. evident right from the opener ‘Edmund Pettis Bridge’ which is named after a confederate general and #Grand wizard of the KKK. also, the scene in 65 where police opened fire on civil right movement protesters attempted to cross the bridge, Heavy stuff indeed to open a new album with but educational and interesting.
‘Rapture’ continues the punk rock assault and Good Riddance are showing no signs of slowing up or growing old gracefully and they’ve certainly not lost any of their edge. If anything, they’ve gone more hardcore than pop-punk. But they have maintained the melody as well so its more a progression than a sea change.
‘No King But Caesar’ might be about someone in particular but the state of society looms large in the lyrics. In fact, the theme for the album is as consistant as the aggressive attack of the playing nor the speed and vitriol.
It’s not all blood and thunder as ‘Wish You Well’ shows a softer side, Whenever they slow it down it’s not for long before they turn up the pressure ‘Pox Americana’ which gets its head down and sprints off. Lyrically it doesn’t offer any solutions to these times of unrest but does hold up a mirror perfectly pulled together in the parting shot of “Requisite Catastrophes”. Sad times indeed but if one kid takes notice then it’s job done besides the music is excellent and the delivery of the usual high standard. Guess I’ll see you back here in a couple more years when hopefully the lyrics will be about hope and better times but I won’t hold my breath.
Author: Dom Daley
Tour Dates so far with more to be announced –
- 02 Aug in Biarritz, France @ Festi Lasai
- 05 Aug in Lindau, Germany @ Club Vaudeville
- 06 Aug in Tolmin, Slovenia @ Punk Rock Holiday
- 07 Aug in Zwiesel, Germany @ Jugendcafe
- 08 Aug in Leipzig, Germany @ Werk 2 – Kulturfabrik Leipzig
- 09 Aug in Berlin, Germany @ SO36
- 10 Aug in Hamburg, Germany @ Hafenklang
- 11 Aug in Eindhoven, Netherlands @ Blue Collar Hotel
- 13 Aug in Igea Marina, Italy @ Bay Fest
- 14 Aug in Zurich, Switzerland @ Dynamo
- 16 Aug in Stemwede, Germany @ Stemweder Open Air
- 17 Aug in Vyskov, Czech Republic @ Pod Parou Festival
- 13 Sep in Winnipeg, MB, Canada @ Park Theatre
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