The Vacancies
Tantrum
Blackheart
After a very promising but flawed Blackheart Records (owner: Joan Jett) debut last year, The Vacancies are about to unleash an even stronger effort in the form of Tantrum. For all the feral punch of A Beat Missing or a Silence Added, this follow-up has even more hooks, more aggression and wittier lyrics.
“16 year old Jody’s only got 3 kids/ One for every 5 years that she lived/ Ended up with doctors when the mother shut the lid/ Hostage of the family with kids having kids/ Such a sick modern era” – from “Sick Modern Era.”
“Sick Modern Era” and the traditional celebratory drinking song “Below Merlot” are a pair of the best street punk songs you’re bound to hear this year, and critics who found the band’s last album noteworthy will find this one monumental.
It’s up to bands like The Vacancies to keep punk rock as a musical form alive in an era of mall punk, energy drinks and MySpace friend lists.
Blackheart Records: http://www.blackheart.com
