Diesel Boy

Sofa King Cool (Honest Don’s)
by Scott Hefflon

What the fuck happened? Diesel Boy useta be a lot of fun, ripping out kinda metal-admiring punk with vocals (at least early on) that were kinda like a West Coast version of the Bouncing Souls. They had humor, songs about slackers saving the world and jerking off, and ran through the punk paces with ease and grace, all lovingly captured in Ryan Greene’s “We’re on Fat Wreck Chords” sound. Well, they were actually the first band put out by Fat-affiliated Honest Don’s. But now their third full-length for HD has none of the self-effacing humor and giddy charm that made the band interesting. Their first, Cock Rock, had moments like “Saving the World” and “Happy Street,” Venus Envy had “Cock Rock” and “Cooler Than You” (amongst others), while Sofa King Cool has, um, “From the Used Bin” (which is almost exactly The Wildhearts’ “The Miles Away Girl” only not nearly as great a song, but seeing as neither the band nor you, gentle reader, probably know and love the Brit rock nuts, y’all can fuck off), “All About the Abes” (additional vocals by Jen Burns and Bracket’s Marty can’t save this ignorable waste of CD space), and a half-assed cover of The Dead Milkmen’s “Punk Rock Girl.” And those are the highlights. Still produced by Mssr. Greene, still rockin’ with those peppy beats the kids like, but there’s just nothing here to get all excited about. Hey, it’s a punk record! Whatever. The liner notes mention that this was recorded in SF during the rainy month of Februrary ’99, so that might be one explanation for why this is such an uninspired record.
(PO Box 192027 San Francisco, CA 94119)