When you’re the ex-vocalist with Kid Dynamite, you could form a band with three quadriplegics, a tin whistle and George W Bush and you’d probably sell a few thousand units. Kid Dynamite was one of those rare bands that made the majority of the people who listened to them instantly fall in love with them. Jason Shevchuck is the aforementioned ex-Kid Dynamite front man and he’s back in black.
From the opening syllable of ‘Everyday Balloons’, you just know who’s behind the mic. With ‘File Under Black’ however, Mr Shevchuck also takes up guitar playing duties, and meatiness in the guitar sound is evident throughout the record. The quality of production also manages to perfectly bring out the gravel-soaked vocals without drowning out the crisp guitar sound, and the guitar work is impressively intricate without resorting to outlandish solo’s to score points.
I think the best way to describe ‘File Under Black’ is mostly killer, some filler. The first three tracks on this record explode out of the speakers like Speedy Gonzales on crack, and obliterate any other opening trio of songs I’ve heard in years. ‘Everyday Balloons’, ‘Dinner’s For Suckers’ and ‘Ratio of People To Cake’ have killer choruses, memorable intros and exhilarating chorus’s galore. After this blistering opening, however, things slow down with ‘Never Heard of Corduroy’ and this where things begin to slide somewhat. The slower tracks on the album totally destroy any sense of urgency that was built up with the opening numbers. It’s as if two E.P’s from both sides of the None More Black musical arsenal have been welded together, and it kind of detracts from the overall quality of the release.
While I’m all for slow songs (just because it’s fast doesn’t mean its good), the sluggish numbers present on here feel forced and out of place. A number of the songs (Such as ‘Bizarro Me’ or ‘Never Heard Of Corduroy’) seem to be made up from slightly off kilter verses hiding big, simple, sing along choruses, which simply don’t work. However, there isn’t a single song on here that I don’t like some part of. The fantastic thing about None More Black is that the songs are so varied within the 3 minutes that they encompass that even if you absolutely hate the intro, or the verse, or the time signature change into the bridge, chances are you’ll love the outro, or the chorus, or the little guitar licks that pop up from nowhere. Take ‘The Affiliates’ for example. The intro is wonderfully melodic, the verse is painfully laboured and the chorus feels like it shouldn’t fit but somehow does. It all seems like it’s been concocted in a bizarre musical laboratory, and while the song is probably a minute too long, the unexpected punk/country breakdown 3 minutes in is inspired, and the lyrics are the kind that if you scratch the surface, reveal a whole new depth (I particularly like the ‘If it wasn’t for the winners, I wouldn’t wanna quit’ line).
But still, there are a number of mostly unsatisfactory tracks on here. ‘Wishing There Were Walkways’ merely stumbles around looking for a significant hook, ‘Risk Management’ sounds like RedLightsFlash without the flashes of brilliance and the inspired time signature changes and ‘Zero Tolerance Drum Policy’ starts off wonderfully then changes pace and melody and loses all sense of identity and careers into what can only be described as a mess.
Luckily, the good songs are fantastic while the bad songs are merely average. Every song oozes originality and the number of creative vocal melodies and innovative guitar fills is ridiculous. Without reeling off a huge list of my favourite parts of this album, honourable mentions must go to the intro and subsequent slide into the verse on ‘Dinners For Suckers’ (and the huge sing along chorus), the chorus to ‘Ice Cream With The Enemy’ which, by all rights, should sound horrible but instead sounds inspired, the clichéd but perfectly executed na’s and whoa’s during the chorus to ‘The Affiliates’, that, coupled with the fantastic vocal melody, makes for a fantastic sing along and finally the little guitar solo over the intro to ‘Nods To Nothing’.
While this is firmly set in the punk rock arena, NMB bring such a fresh approach to the table that you’re guaranteed to love at least half of this record. Unfortunately, the willingness to experiment with melody does get a little out of control at times and sometimes leads to some decidedly average punk rock songs. This, in turn, drags down the whole album, as the songs seem to be littered in between the great ones, making the entire listening experience somewhat haphazard. Despite this, ‘File Under Black’ is a gloriously melodic punk record and None More Black appear to have the potential to be as great as Kid Dynamite ever were, they’re just not quite there yet.
Ross