The Smugglers

Selling The Sizzle (Lookout!/Mint)
by Mark Phinney

I wake up late, tell my mom I’m going to school, and tell my dad to go screw. I grab my favorite shorts (the ones with Tammy Faye Bakker on them), tanning oil, a six-pack, and, of course, The Smugglers‘ new CD, Selling The Sizzle. I pick up my gang and we head to the beach, freaking out to yet another Lookout! band. The Smugglers are always good for skipping-school-for-the-beach days. There’s nothing better than surf, sun, and sand, and drinking and shimmying to punkers in suits and sewage boots. The Smugglers’ new album kicks ass. I saw them perform live with The Queers and the Mr. T Experience and was so blown away, I wondered if hearing them on disc could recreate that feeling. Well, they certainly rock just as hard on disc as on stage. The disc kicks off with the oath to “Serve, Protect, and Entertain,” and from there leads into an onslaught of catchy pop-punk cuties that stay true to that oath. The pictures of cheeseburgers on the cover made me hungry. These guys really do know how to sell the sizzle!