Time Again
The Stories Are True
Hellcat
Street punk is a path that has been tread upon so deeply that it has ceased to be a path and become a tunnel. The Clash, Social Distortion and Dead Kennedys perfected this genre in the late ’70s/early ’80s without many prior bands to rip off. The fast guitar and drums, the sing-along choruses and thought-provoking lyrics about politics, drinking and girls gave mainstream society its first glance at what it meant to be, and sound, “punk.” In the ’90s you had Operation Ivy – and then Rancid, Green Day and The Casualties as just a few of the more well-known artists extending upon this sound and attitude.
Today, the bands doing this music are pretty much a copy of a copy of a copy. If you xerox a document 3 times, you’ll still be able to read the final piece but it’s not as clear as the original.
Such are Los Angeles’ Time Again. Everything about this band screams Rancid to the point that they are almost a cover band. From vocalist Daniel Dart’s snarl and spit vocals, to the predictable flow of each song – even the cover art for the band’s debut album The Stories Are True is straight from …And Out Come the Wolves. And, big surprise, the band is on Tim Armstrong’s Hellcat label. Armstrong even makes a guest appearance on the title track of the album!
Now, that’s not to say this album is so contrived as to be unplayable. It’s a 30-minute jet engine ride of the fun, the snotty, the dirty and boozey. Just don’t expect to discover anything you haven’t already heard a million times before.
Time Again: http://www.timeagainband.com
