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<\/a>LA veterans Junkyard follow up their excellent 2017 comeback album \u2018High Water\u2019 with the release of a \u2018new\u2019 album entitled \u2018Old Habits Die Hard\u2019. Now, this album contains long lost songs recorded back in \u201992 and features original members David Roach, guitarists Brian Baker and Chris Gates, bassist Todd Muscat and drummer Pat Muzingo.\nThese songs have actually been previously available and Junkyard diehards will probably already own the albums \u2018Joker\u2019 and \u2018XXX\u2019 that the band self-released and were selling over 10 years ago.
\nThis collection of songs were slated to be released as the follow up to 1991\u2019s \u2018Sixes, Sevens and Nines\u2019, but of course Grunge happened, the music scene changed, the band were dropped by Geffen and the proposed album shelved. It\u2019s a familiar story that rings true with so many bands from that era.
\nPresented here in all their glory are the handpicked gems from those sessions, released for the first time on vinyl.<\/p>\n
While \u2018Sixes. Sevens and Nines\u2019 followed a more laid back, country rock direction, with the likes of the MTV friendly \u2018All The Time In The World\u2019 and \u2018Misery Loves Company\u2019, the band found themselves trying to deliver hits for their record label, but still remaining true to their punk rock roots and write the songs they wanted to play. Those sessions provided an album that harks back to their first album and ultimately the sound the band continues with to this day.
\n\u2018Old Habits Die Hard\u2019 is pretty much as you would expect, it doesn\u2019t stray from what Junkyard were doing at the time. Hard, bluesy rock with a southern twist and a sleazy delivery.
\nThat trademark bluesy swagger is evident from the off. The likes of opener \u2018Pushed You Too Far\u2019 and \u2018Fall To Pieces\u2019 are prime Junkyard. It\u2019s all spit and sawdust, engine oil and cheap whiskey, as Gates and Baker trade dirty riffs and southern licks while vocalist David Roach spits lyrics like a punk rock Vince Neil in his prime.
\nAt times the band comes close to repeating themselves. The bloozy \u2018Blue Sin\u2019 is pretty much a rewrite of \u2018Long Way Home\u2019 from the debut album and \u2018Take Me Home\u2019 is very similar to \u2018Blooze\u2019 the opener of that very same album. But I\u2019m nit-picking, as they certainly didn\u2019t struggle to deliver the singles the record company demanded. \u2018Tried & True\u2019 could\u2019ve been the strong single contender. Heartfelt, full of sentiment, but with that bluesy Junkyard swagger still intact. Baker and Gates\u2019 howling leads and fat riffs don\u2019t disappoint. Again, \u2018Holdin\u2019 On\u2019 is more evidence of that. A great melodic verse that leads to a catchy chorus, with nice gang backing vocals thrown in for good measure. It\u2019s a song that would\u2019ve been pure MTV fodder back in the day and it still holds up all these years later.
\nWith its instantly hook-ridden chorus and metal riffage \u2018I Come Crawling\u2019 is the band taking the bull by the horns and delivering the goods. Elsewhere, the acoustic and countrified \u2018Hanging Around\u2019 is Junkyard doing their laid back balladry thang, which they always did with style and substance.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s interesting to note that Junkyard never actually split up and have been touring sporadically for their entire career. And while I feel \u2018Old Habits Die Hard\u2019 is not as strong an album as \u2018High Water\u2019, it\u2019s a snapshot of where the band were heading during the Grunge years and proves they still had the songs when the record company ditched them for plaid and goatees.
\nThis collection of songs do not sound dated or out of time because Junkyard were never part of that whole scene anyway. They continue to do what they have always done, play low down and dirty rock \u2018n\u2019 roll with attitude, because they are doing it to please nobody but themselves. As they say, old habits really do die hard.<\/p>\n
Author: Ben Hughes<\/p>\n
Acetate Records: Here<\/a><\/p>\n