RIP MxPx. Mike Herrera, what have you done? One of the most seminal pop-punk bands of the 20th century, a band who influenced more bands than you can care to imagine, destroyed. Ok, so that’s a little over the top but ‘Before, Everything and After’ is akin to Green Day‘s ‘Warning’ record, except ‘Warning’ was choc-full of killer hooks and great songs – this record isn’t. It simply dabbles in Simple Plan-esque pop but, for the most part, fails to hit the spot. There’s nothing that resembles the catchyness of ‘I’d Do Anything’ and it’s a shame to see a band court the big time as much as MxPx appear to have done. Ok, if anyone deserves the big time it’s this lot, but everything from the clean cut boy-band cover pictures to the crisp and often horrible songs is wrong. This record is a massive disappointment.
For those of you who don’t know me (read 99% of you), I adore MxPx. I was first introduced to them in 1998 when my buddy Carl leant me a mix tape of their ‘Life In General’ era material and I fell in love. If it wasn’t for that there is no way I’d be writing for Punktastic now. If it wasn’t for MxPx I wouldn’t like punk music – that’s how much I owe to this band. ‘Slowly Going The Way Of The Buffalo’ is one of my all-time favourite records, probably in the top 5, and in my reckoning only the Descendents better them in the pop-punk stakes. So why has such an amazing band rapidly fallen into the chasing pack of mediocre bands? Your guess is as good as mine.
‘Play It Loud’ sucks and ‘It’s Alright’ is plain rotten. Listening for the first time these are songs that could easily have been left on the Good Charlotte studio floor. There’s an obvious shine that the band’s old material lacked, but the lack of passion, power and, well, greatness, is massively apparent. ‘First Day Of The Rest Of Our Lives’ is terrible…really bad, while ‘Quit Your Life’ is pure bile. With a horrible synthesised beat and some nasty effects, a close friend of the band should really have told the band just how bad this song is. It’s cheesy, contrived, obvious and stripped of any emotion.
Of course there are some good moments, but they are few and far between. ‘Well Adjusted’ is a great pop song and will probably propel the band towards MTV, but it’s not MxPx. ‘Brokenhearted’ is the first glimpse of the old band, a real anthemic stomper that is more ‘Everpassing Moment’ than ‘Teenage Politics’, but still, we’ll salvage whatever we can. ‘Everything Sucks’ is nothing to write home about really but shines like a beacon compared to half of the drivel on show and ‘More Everything’ wins bonus points because there’s a hummable tune (yep, I’m scraping the barrel now…) ‘The Capitol’ is only memorable because the drumming is turned up several notches; it’s no more than filler really. Perhaps one of the best songs is the ultra-poppy ‘On The Outs’ which at least has an excellent melody and the ability to knaw away at your brain until you sing along. ‘You Make Me, Me’ also sticks out like a sore thumb, but to be honest it’s far too little, too late.
If this is your first experience of MxPx you’ll probably wonder why I’ve been so vitriolic in my displeasure, but I’m just gutted to see one of my favourite bands forced to write such commercial pap. Mike told me personally he believes this is MxPx‘s best album, but he’s certainly deluding himself because this is their worst by some distance. Not even the likes of Kris Roe, The Halo Friendlies and Jordan Pundik of NFG can save this record with their guest appearances. To quote one song, “I’m brokenhearted, don’t get me started’ – this album is easily the most disappointing I’ve heard this year.
www.mxpx.com
Released on AM Records
Paul