The Ramones. One of the finest, if not the finest punk rock band of them all. There have been many bands that have either tried to rip them off, or simply just borrow heavily from them. And the Saturday Night Kids are one such band. They don’t exactly steal from Joey and Co, they just lean heavily towards their sound. And although the results aren’t as good as the original, there’s enough here to warrant a further inspection.
‘Total Knockout!’ is the new cd from Delaware’s Saturday Night Kids, and The Ramones influence is obvious right from the start. The Kids play mid-paced melodic punk ‘n roll with vocals that come right out of the Joey Ramone school of singing. Either that or it’s just the guy from the Groovie Ghoulies again…
Opener ‘She’s A Cakehead’ is simple enough, a shade over two minutes of three chords and a catchy enough melody. It’s not outstanding by any means, but there’s enough melody there to warrant a listen. And this carries over to ‘I Wanna Go To Nevada’, again minimum of effort = maximum results. It’s really hard not to compare them to similar bands, so I’m going to have to. And whilst this lot aren’t the best band you’ll come across this year, they are better than the Groovie Ghoulies, who they seem desperate to match in all departments. ‘The Kids Are Rockin In Luxembourg’ is not a good song title. And the track itself follows a little too closely to the previous two. But Bill’s guitar solo midway through is a welcome, and much needed, break.
By the fourth track, ‘Kill That Girl’, you’re beginning to come across a common theme. The same chords, the same pace…did I mention it’s all the same? Again, it’s not that bad a song, especially when the backing vocals add that extra layer to proceedings, but one after the other it’s quite hard to enjoy. ‘Don’t Leave Me Alone On Friday’ is slightly better. The vocals aren’t quite as annoying and the drumming is impressive. The backing vocals also add a nice touch.
‘Fuck The Beach’ sounds a bit Beach Boys-esque to me, complete with hand-clap intro. But again it just lacks any kind of urgency and the repetition of “fuck” in the background just makes it come across all Blink 182. It’s totally unnecessary…or maybe I’m just getting old. ‘Mess You Up’ is an improvement because it strays from the tiresome three-chord strategy, dumping it in favour of a slightly more complex riff. It’s still ultra-simple, but it works. And paying homage to their heroes, ‘Kathy Hates The Ramones‘ is another average slice of Ramones-wannabe punk. But it’s too light to even get close to Joey and co. The bass intro and pick slide of ‘Saturday Night Kid’ stands out because it’s different. And whilst the track is reasonably good, it doesn’t really leap out of the speakers. Ditto ‘Bitch Fight’, which isn’t spectacular lyrically but is alright on the ears. Nothing special, but better than a marmite sandwich nonetheless.
‘Ain’t It Obvious I Hate You’ is fairly good, unlike ‘Do The Godzilla’ which is one of the worst tracks I’ve heard this year. Sorry guys, but this is awful! The only good thing about it is that it lasts for less than two minutes! Album closer ‘I’m Not A Juvenile Delinquent’ really sums up the entire album: It’s ok in short bursts, but listen to any 3 tracks in a row and you’ve heard them all.
SNK aren’t that bad a band by any stretch of the imagination. Infact there are some pretty good songs on this record. But play it all in one sitting and you’ll either be reaching for the skip button, or even the dreaded ‘off’ switch. Come Saturday night, these kids could be dressed up with nowhere to go…
Paul Savage