Screw 32

Under The Influence of Bad People (Fat)
by Austin Nash

It opens up with a crescendo, like a bricklayer finishing the steeple of a church in ten seconds. Then it burns that church, just to see how it feels. Under The Influence Of Bad People is a dream for me today. Honestly (I’m on a truth kick this week), only one out of twelve or so discs I evaluate ever see the inside of my CD player post-review. Due to the existing saturation, any band is a crap shoot. With emphasis on the crap. Screw 32 is the one that will survive this month. They come on heavy, rising up to the sun like a warrior catching an updraft on the hang glider of rock (HA HA HA HAH bloody hell). A fine and powerful blend of SoCal melodic punk slingshotted into the East Bay, Screw 32 grabs the back of my underwear and holds me on my tip toes, the song lead-ins never failing to fall perfectly into what I’m hoping for. Like watching gentle Ben Crenshaw drain a fifty-foot putt, like a curling stone hitting its mark (?), a woman taking her clothes off in front of the TV at your place saying “Let’s fuck.” Beautiful.

Screw 32 is a perfectly balanced compliment to its label mates. Fat Wreck Chords is making some excellent qualitative business decisions, important for survival and necessary for weeding out garbage. It is becoming so that one can look to a specific label for new material just like losers maintain loyalty to a TV station. We need more people in charge with good taste.