Label: Fat Wreck ChordsRating: 4 Guns
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Written By: Darwin Green
(Reviews Editor)
Hailing from a long tradition of pop-punk, Banner Pilot holds their own amidst the scores of punk bands playing the circuit of Midwestern backyards. The smell of beer and cigarettes pervade the images coming to mind when trying to picture Banner Pilot in their element.
I feel like I’ve seen them at some college house party with twenty kids in their late teens or early twenties milling around the stage. I know I haven’t seen this particular band, but Banner Pilot brings back memories, particularly of the joy of leaving home, the eagerness of discovering new local music, and the exciting feeling that this band might be famous one day simply because the music created an outlet for someone at a certain time and place for feelings until then unknown before.
Of course other bands have expressed those same feelings, and for a jaded audiophile, this band might come as somewhat of a repetition of long-trodden terrain. But to someone with the passion of discovery, this album might help fuel a youthful energy unbounded by home. Punk rock, I think, has always been misunderstood, and this might, to someone unfamiliar with the genre, help someone to remember that yeah, punk is about living life to its fullest brightness, pushing past the darkness and heading straight for the gut.
The album itself plays cohesively, as though this is exactly what their live set might sound like. It’s not a bad thing at all, and forgoes the pretense that the polished and the rarified use to alienate their listeners. This album is nothing but fun.
Like Banner Pilot? Then you might like: Face to Face, early Blink-182, Lagwagon
