10,000 shots,
Real McKenziesBad Religion meets a Scottish Flogging Molly. That’s the best I can do. The Real McKenzies are exactly what you’d expect: highland-influenced punk rock with overused bagpipes and, to be frank, what I can only describe as ‘jiggy’ rhythms. It’s all just as clichéd as your average OOP OOP SKREAMO DOLLAZ band, but that doesn’t mean it redeems itself in any way.
The highlight of this album, as it were, is the fact that ‘Bugger Off’, a traditional song (apparently), makes an appearance. This raised a small smile. In fact, many more smiles could have been raised had this album been made without the bagpipes as there’s some damn good punk songs hidden somewhere underneath that gimmick. This band could so easily work without it and still fit nicely into their little niche; a tenuous Scottish heritage doesn’t necessitate a requirement of the ultimate cliché of Scottish music in your band.
Your average Dropkicks fan is going to probably lap this all up, but I can’t see it having a wider appeal than that. I had a quick look on their website whilst writing this and noticed a video of an Italian festival appearance and I can imagine that in the heat of summer after having consumed far too many pints of the Real McKenzies’ favourite ale that this would be fair game to drunkenly dance to. But it’s late October, the downpour this morning drenched me, and that about sums up my apathy towards this. For genre fans only.
Spud
Fat Wreck (Europe)
