When Punktastic started way back in 2000 it seemed like there was a huge ska revival. While Less Than Jake and Reel Big Fish dominated the larger scene, the UK had started to spawn a scene of it’s own. Bands like NoComply and Capdown weren’t ska per se, but they were certainly influenced by the genre and when the likes of Adequate 7 and Howard’s Alias went on to grow the UK’s underground had a number of bands that shit on their US counterparts from a great height. As those bands toured and grew they were, quite rightly, making huge waves. Glowing reviews were written and people started going to see UK bands on tour. The scene was flourishing. People spoke of Capdown as the band that could break out and take the mainstream by storm in a fashion that Gallows have now managed to do.
But for whatever reason it didn’t happen. Capdown didn’t break out of the restricted UK scene as we’d all hoped and then people stopped supporting UK bands as they once had done. Slowly but surely those bands with such bright futures couldn’t break the shackles and found themselves pigeonholed in a scene which paid them £50 a show. Members left, bands progressed and then split up. The promising scene of music imploded.
Howard’s Alias have always been a band seemingly revered by so many people. Unafraid to push at the boundaries (and unafraid to go through a whopping 22 members in their lifetime) the band progressed from a Less Than Jake-inspired ska-punk band that wrote ‘The Chameleon Script’ to a band inspired by something altogether more original. ‘The Answer Is Never’ showed a band brimming with talent, but probably ahead of it’s time. ‘Beat, Heart Beat’ exceeded that even further. But again it was an album that sounded like nothing else around and the band, inadvertently, probably pegged themselves in a genre of their own, unable to ride on the coattails of any trend that was fashionable at the time. They broke up, hardly surprisingly, blaming a lack of money, support and a lack of enthusiasm to take things further.
And that seemed to be that. Until suddenly new songs were written and Howard’s Alias were reborn. Unfinished business maybe, but despite all the hurdles and a lack of label support, ‘ep.i.phan.ic’ was recorded and released. The result is easily the band’s best record. It’s easily the best UK release of the year too. It could even be one of the best UK releases of the decade. And yes I am well aware that is high praise, but when a band sits down, throws the rulebook out of the window and writes an album that doesn’t sound like anyone else around and that’s as fresh as a daisy, they deserve all the plaudits.
‘Long Haul’, ‘We Are The Sun’ and ‘Oh Me, Oh My’ are all incredible. ‘What A View’ sounds huge. The whole record sounds huge to be fair, around 5-minutes into ‘Long Haul’ Matt pushes his vocals to the max and there’s a guitar solo that sounds enormous. This is easily Peter Miles finest production to date – and that’s saying something. This album – 10 songs plus 4 bonus tracks – and is one of those records where you put it on and listen from start to finish. You don’t skip, you don’t listen to the odd track, it’s one of those you just HAVE to put on and finish it all. Oh, and want more highlights? The solo in ‘Oh Me, Oh My’ takes everything to a new level entirely, while ‘Hush! Hush!’ ends things in splendid fashion.
It’s gutting that a band with this level of talent has been overlooked for so long. If you’re not a chump you will pick this up immediately. It deserves to be listened to over and over and over again.