Two Man Advantage

Drafted (Royalty)
by Scott Hefflon

A grittier version of “puck rock,” a punk offshoot obsessed with hockey and beer, Two Man Advantage have the good graces to be ruder and more violent, yet only a little less melodic than genre benchmarks such as the Riverdales, the McRackins, and the like. Produced by Down By Law’s Dave Smalley, Drafted sounds like a drunken brawl in the bleachers – loud, kinda mashed together, and belligerent. Naw, there ain’t no compromises here, knuckles’ll get bloody ‘fore there’s an apology. Or a love song (except to the great sport of hockey).

Often like the living room slamfests of Black Flag, Two Man Advantage’s song titles, while kinda one-gimmicky, are true to their passions: “Beer Man Skating Down the Ice,” “I Wanna Beer,” “Penalty Box,” and “Beer Today, Gone Tomorrow.” While the hairy, pot-bellied lout of a singer has been compared to a meeting of The Mentors’ El Duce and Ron Jeremy, the rest of the guys are no better: wearing hockey equipment onstage and shouting encouragement to their demented “ring” leader. Not for fresh-faced “punks” (unless you pussies wanna get trounced), but great for adrenaline-junkies who don’t mind getting bashed around in the pit and think sports’d be far more entertaining if there was more blood (I’ve always wondered why baseball players dropped their bats before running the bases.)
(176 Madison Ave. 4th Fl. New York, NY 10016)