Bad News (Fat Wreck Chords)
release date: 7/23/2013
by Scott Hefflon
Raspy-voiced bar room punk from San Francisco, Fat Wreck’s home base. “Welcome to Hell” combines horns, dark ska upstroke (not all ska was smiles and checkerboards, check some of the morose Terry-led Specials classics) offset by punk charge, and enough blind-staggering to please Social D and Pogues fans. Darker and slower (and less unity-obsessed) than the Dropkicks, they’re probably a lot more self-destructive, too. The goal was to keep the recording straight-forward and live, with minimal overdubs, courtesy of Mariachi El Bronx, Angry Amputees, and Lagwagon members. The Fat Mike produced Bad News kinda slipped right by me, as perhaps it did others, seeing as there aren’t the usual glut of nearly-interchangeable reviews clamoring for your online attention.