Recently Do The Dog has become one of my favourite UK labels. With releases from the likes of Smoke Like A Fish, Catch-It Kebabs and the testicle-tightening good Duff Muffin they’ve asserted their position as the most reliable purveyors of ska and all its lovely variants, and so it’s tough to see why they’ve released ‘Unity Avenue’, filled as it is with sub-par 3rd wave that redefines the world uninspiring.
It’s not that The Supatones are necessarily a bad band as such, just that there is nothing whatsoever on this mini-album to suggest that there would be any point in turning Skanking Sausages off and putting this on instead. I need to get one thing out of the way – I know it’s a cliché to say that all female singers sound like Gwen Stefani or Monique Powell but the fact is that vocalist Nicky really, REALLY makes this sound like early No Doubt. The styles are virtually identical and especially during ‘Angelfish’ you could confuse the two.
Of course this wouldn’t be a problem if the music was an exciting ride through ska punk, but it’s not. The best bands to have emerged from the ska scene (NOTE: This is not saying these bands are ska, merely that when they started they were very much part of the ska scene, I can’t be arsed arguing with you purists any more) No Comply and Howard’s Alias took a basic idea and created a sound around it. The likes of ‘Wake Up’ and ‘The Catch’ are so painfully basic that it’s genuinely frustrating to listen to them. Template ska punk to the letter.
It is worth saying that I adore ska and ska punk and whatever variant is coming next but I detest bad, hackneyed ska punk. This hasn’t quite attained the status of ‘execrable’ but because it is so mundane isn’t far off. I fucking hate giving bad reviews to bands on solid labels but there’s no other choice with this one.
Ben
www.supatones.com
www.dothedog.com