Huntingtons

Plastic Surgery (Tooth & Nail)
by Scott Hefflon

The Ramones were really onto something, huh? They played simply yet magically, and they somehow hit the mark so often, we hail them as geniuses despite the fact that a lot of their songs are really kinda boring. Not to mention similar. But they had a certain something that made it alright. And since those glorious days (which I’m sure didn’t seem so glorious at the time), punk bands (and not punk bands trying to claim punk heritage) have milked those same three chords and relaxed vocal delivery to varying degrees of success. The Queers and Screeching Weasel have done it, and Riverdales and Groovie Ghoulies have done it in recent years rather nicely. Which leads us to (the) Huntingtons. I’m tempted to say enough is enough, fellas, but after two albums at Sonic Iguana (with Mass Giorgini at the helm), two full-length Ramones tributes, two self-produced records, and a 22-song live record released in four years, I still find these guys infectious. While most of it doesn’t have the staying power and Ramonesism of “Blitzkrieg Bop,” “I Wanna Be Sedated,” “Sheena is a Punk Rocker” and a slew of others (this review can only be so long, ya know?), the feeling is there. There’re plenty of mid-tempo dippy love songs and enough traffic-weaving uptempo cruisers to get you a hefty ticket. While there’s always the undercurrent of “Man, the way these guys can just crank it out, it almost cheapens it, huh?,” Huntingtons just crank out the goods, and God bless ’em for it. Most bands should be so lucky.
(www.toothandnail.com)