The Frustrators are probably best known for their rather famous bass player, a one Mr. Mike Dirnt of little known Californian punk band Green Day. Their first release, 2000’s ‘Bored In The USA’, was an eight-track montage of punked up rock ‘n’ roll with a 1950s meets the 70s edge to it. ‘Achtung Jackass’ follows the same theme, dumb punk without being quite so dumb as, say, a certain Tom, Mark and Travis, but bearing subtle simiarities and having a time machine in tow. Those similarities are few and far between however as The Frustrators provide a much rawer take on the pop punk that has been splattering the airwaves of late.
The real sparkler on this release is their cover of Cars’ ‘My Best Friend’s Girl’, throwing The Frustrators even further into the realms of the likes of The Undertones and The Clash as the album hurtles forever onward. ‘AAA’ is a rare insight into their more emotional side, a rather docile melodic number, which works very well. Lyrics “I’m half empty, you’re half full, sit here waiting for your call” make a pleasant change from “I’m just as stupid as I wanna be” (‘Frustrators Jingle’) and “I’m gonna be a plastic tree” (‘The Crasher’).
The two aforementioned tracks are the catchiest on the release, which unfortunately doesn’t exactly speak volumes about the band, but they deserve credit for sticking to their punk rock roots as opposed to jumping on the pop punk bandwagon, which they could have managed with ease.
Both ‘Bored In The USA’ and ‘Achtung Jackass’ have plausible tracks, but unfortuntely not quite enough to project them to ‘must have’ status. Get ’em both, make a mix tape of the best numbers from each and you’d have a damn fine half hour of listening pleasure.
Emily