Emily's Army debut full-length album "Don't Be A Dick" brings a fresh new sound to modern day punk rock that still manages to respect the classic bands. Cynical modern punk rock is about what sucks and "fuck this and fuck that," but Emily's Army comes off with positivity and class. At times they remind me of The Clash. In their time, The Clash made punk that was about musical style, without sacrificing lyrical substance.
Now in 2011 Emily's Army have their full length album "Don't Be A Dick," including all songs we've heard over the last couple of years in the live shows. The album went on sale June 14th and i preordered the "bundle" which included the 12" record on vinyl, stickers, a T-shirt, and a poster for only $20. The record is full of catchy, fast, and stick-in-your-head songs that is amazing for a band with such young members ranging from 15 to 17 years old.
I've been following Emily's Army since the summer of 2009 and the only place you could find their music was on Myspace or YouTube. Then in the summer of 2010 they began touring up and down the California coast, and I was lucky enough to see them four times (once at Velvet Jones, and twice at the Troubadour, and once at Gilman).
Now in 2011 Emily's Army have their full length album "Don't Be A Dick," including all songs we've heard over the last couple of years in the live shows. The album went on sale June 14th and i preordered the "bundle" which included the 12" record on vinyl, stickers, a T-shirt, and a poster for only $20. The record is full of catchy, fast, and stick-in-your-head songs that is amazing for a band with such young members ranging from 15 to 17 years old.
I've been following Emily's Army since the summer of 2009 and the only place you could find their music was on Myspace or YouTube. Then in the summer of 2010 they began touring up and down the California coast, and I was lucky enough to see them four times (once at Velvet Jones, and twice at the Troubadour, and once at Gilman).
"Don't Be A Dick" was produced by Green Day's Billie-Joe Armstrong and Chris Dugan in Jingle Town Studios in 4 days. The band consists of Cole Becker (singer and guitarist), Max Becker (bass and singer), Joey Armstrong (drums) and Travis Nuemann (guitar). They came up with the name from Max and Cole's 15 year old cousin Emily, who was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis in 1998. The name is also from the charity for their cousin.
The record begins with the song "Broadcast This," which is how they usually open a live show. Like most of the songs on the record I relate to it a lot because this song has to do with how the radio/media is full of "boring music and depressing talk shows." "Asslete." on the other hand is about how athletes who may seem straight edge or as Cole says "white horse" but in the end "you can't be a good guy in sports." "Little Face" I think shares a similarity with another great song on the album "Strictly For The Birds" because before, I only heard the songs live but on the record they have great catchy riffs and stick-in-your-head chorus sung by Max. "Ho-Lloween" sounds like a Misfits song with the band making weird screaming noises throughout the song and full of singalong "ba-ba-bas." The meaning is pretty straightforward with the title, about how girls dress like hoes on Halloween. "To some girls it just means everything/ so everyone's a skank for Halloween."
Another highlight in the record would have to be "West Coast", because its longer than most of the songs and changes to completely different riffs that give the song its own style. "Statutory Brainrape", however, uses a pretty common punk hook, but it can relate to anyone going through high school. Teachers manipulating us "with required books" and how "the video game industry is teaching us to learn how to kill." The last song, "Lochlomond", although a cover of the traditional Scottish song, is probably the best song on the album. If there is one thing Emily's Army is good at, it is making their cover sound better than the original.(i.e. listen to "Do You Wanna Dance). "Lochlomond" ends the record with a fun easy to dance to song that makes you want them to add more songs to this very short record.
Another highlight in the record would have to be "West Coast", because its longer than most of the songs and changes to completely different riffs that give the song its own style. "Statutory Brainrape", however, uses a pretty common punk hook, but it can relate to anyone going through high school. Teachers manipulating us "with required books" and how "the video game industry is teaching us to learn how to kill." The last song, "Lochlomond", although a cover of the traditional Scottish song, is probably the best song on the album. If there is one thing Emily's Army is good at, it is making their cover sound better than the original.(i.e. listen to "Do You Wanna Dance). "Lochlomond" ends the record with a fun easy to dance to song that makes you want them to add more songs to this very short record.
This record was a great way to start off their hopefully long career of music. This record proved that they are serious about their music and plan to make more in the future. I know they are going to be really big one day and I have to say I'm gonna miss seeing them in small shows all around California. They're all really nice and smart kids that deserve to be remembered and seen as one of the great influencing bands of modern punk music.
P.S.. I have a lot of pictures from their past shows but unfortunately most of them are blurry. This band is like Bigfoot - always out of focus.
Some 924 Gilman footage:
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