Druglords Of The Avenues - Self Titled

Artist: Druglords Of The Avenues

Album: Sing Songs

Label: Self Released

In the past year or two, Red Scare Industries has signed many of what have become my favourite punk bands: The Cobra Skulls, The Copyrights, The Methadones, The Sidekicks, The Falcon - and the list of well produced, debatably pop-punk bands goes on.  Their newest signing, Druglords Of The Avenues, have yet to record under the watchful eye of Red Scare, but after listening to their self released debut, Sing Songs, it's obvious why Red Scare snatched up these Oakland, California boys.

Lead vocalist, "Johnny," sings in a familiar but elusive key.  Imagine mashing Nothington's raw feel together with Flashlight Brown's unpolished poppy vocal delivery - then you'd have Druglords of the Avenues.  With the exception of "Search Again's" anger fueled guitar, the band typically keeps an upbeat, bouncy tempo.  They differentiate themselves from labelmates The Copyrights and The Methadones by drawing more heavily on punk "rock" than "pop."  Furthermore, when the vocals reach an aggressive level, many tracks, like "There's Nothing Really Going On" and "These So Called Druglords," reveal street-punk overtones.  However, one of the biggest "issues" with Sing Songs ends up being its steadfast tempo.  While there is never any ambiguity over when one track ends and another begins, at times some songs sound slightly too familiar for comfort.  For example, "What Is Good" and "He Loves" feature choruses that, while obviously not identical, feature the same vocal wailing.  Thankfully, throughout several songs the band changes the tempo, keeping things fresh - subsequently removing predictability.

The band liberally throws around lyrics like "Meatballs and Corn Stew," which admittedly had me sctraching my head for quite a while - but after a few listens I finally began making probable thematic connections.  The first track, "Me Decided," introduces a grammatically confused, scatterbrained description of a rekindled relationship, setting up the rest of the album for the Druglords' ever present conflicted tone.  The band seems to love asking personal and social questions, only to dance around the answer.  "What is Good" asks exactly what the title suggests, and several tracks later "Search Again," with "Mixed Up" immediately following, together confirming that even half way through the album the band still hasn't settled on any concrete answers.  

Sing Songs provides an intelligent, thoughtful introduction to Druglords Of The Avenues.  While I'm still hesitant to place the band on the same level as other Red Scare greats, if the band continues evolving and maturing their promising combination of rough vocals, bouncy melodies, and inquisitive lyrics, their Red Scare debut could be an event I'll need to highlight on my calendar.