Punchbowl – Its Us And Me EP
Punchbowl are a four piece ska punk band. This is a 7 track EP and shows that they can do ska punk and pop punk well, and with great passion. Track 1, ‘Blue TV’ is a tribute to their old band that was called Blue TV and it is a pop punk song. The vocals are sung in a NoFx kind of way and the drumming is of a medium pace. The guitarring is quite soft on this song but it still manages to sound quite good. The second song, ‘Sound Of Music’ is more of a ska song with a fast tempo and wonderful ska sounds. The pace of this track is a lot quicker than the first and the guitar and trombone come through really well with fast drumming at times. The third track, ‘Should I Try’ also has a Ska feel to it, with the trombone and all. The guitar riff is also fast and Ska’y, and the drumming seems to be fast again. The vocals are kept the same and are very melodic and well recorded with an American feel about them. The forth track, ‘Cancer’ starts off with a storming guitar riff. This track is more of a punk track again with the NoFx style vocals and fast drumming pace. This is a good punk track with great lyrics. The fifth track, ‘Ice Cream’ starts off comically with a kid asking for ice cream with his dad replying ‘No, go to bed you fucking little shit.’ It is a Ska Punk track and could easily be a Less Than Jake song. The horn section produces a great sound here and there is also some excellent drumming. ‘Northern Line,’ the sixth track is another Ska song and has a very two tone, Madness kind of feel about it. Drumming is fast, horn section is amazing and there is also a very strong guitar riff. The seventh track, ‘Proofs In The Pudding’ starts off very pop punk’y, like a Sum41 track. So no surprise that it is not Ska’y at all. The drumming is really good, as is the guitar riff. There are also some really cool bonus tracks which I do not know the titles of. So, all in all this is a good Ska Pop Punk CD with many exciting tunes and also some comical bonus tracks added into the bundle.