It’s in this latter category that Pass Away fall. What started life as a side project for members of I Am the Avalanche and Crime in Stereo now feels like a fully realised band, creating the kind of cathartic and emotional punk rock will appeal to fans of The Menzingers, The Flatliners or Iron Chic.

‘Thirty Nine’ is the band’s second album and, while their debut was a short and scrappy affair, this time things feel fuller and more considered; the production far cleaner than that of its predecessor.

For the most part, the songs feel more memorable too. Opening acoustic number ‘Chic’s Beach’ is an odd way to kick things off, though it does do a good job of establishing the heartfelt honesty of the lyricism. Second track and lead single ‘Halloween’ does a far better job at establishing the record’s tone; harbouring a similar energy to bands like Gnarwolves, there’s a welcome sense of familiarity, as well self-deprecation, which would have been a far more fitting way to open proceedings.

Elsewhere, ‘Bartender’s Lament’ provides a slice of Menzinger’s style nostalgia and the most memorable chorus on the record. ‘Bushwick’ is another acoustic offering, though this time feeling far more fitting than the aforementioned opener. Coming at the half-way point it provides some brief respite from the record’s driving punk rock, if not from its angst.

‘Coffin Hands’ and ‘Brooklyn Psychotherapy’ round things off in perfect fashion and are definite highlights. The former a cathartic and rousing number that proves to be the strongest track on the album, the latter a slackery conclusion to the record; the piss and vinegar so often previously masked by inherent self-deprecation now finally erupting in the form of erratic guitars and a snotty vocal delivery.

Packing buckets of promise, ‘Thirty Nine’ is the sound of a band coming into their own, yet it doesn’t quite reach its full potential. While the album highlights are excellent, there are too many moments that feel like filler in comparison. That said, it’s by no means a bad record either. What it is, is an album of plaid shirt punk rock for the craft beer generation. And if, like me, that ticks your boxes, you could do far worse than spending some time with it.

DAVE BEECH

Thrownups, His and Hers, Gun Shy, Muskets, and Rope will join the band, each one on selected dates, details of which can be found below. The event will begin at the Montague Arms on the 18th January where they’ll play their first three EPs, 2011’s ‘Fun Club’, 2012’s ‘CRU’, and 2013’s ‘Funemployed’. Then on the 19th at The Old Blue Last will see them play their 2014 debut self-titled album and 2015 EP ‘Adolescence’. The final date, the 20th, will see the punk trio play their this year’s second album ‘Outsiders’ in full at the Sebright Arms.

Tickets for each day cost £10 and a three day pass is worth £25. You can purchase them here. A portion of the ticket sale will go towards UK charity Rosa, who aid and support initiatives who aid women and girls.

JANUARY
18 LONDON The Montague Arms w/ Thrownups + His and Hers
19 LONDON The Old Blue Last w/ Gun Shy + Muskets
20 LONDON The Sebright Arms w/ Rope

the event will begin at the Montague Arms on the 18th January where they’ll play their first three EPs, 2011’s ‘Fun Club’, 2012’s ‘CRU’, and 2013’s ‘Funemployed’. Then on the 19th at The Old Blue Last will see them play their 2014 debut self-titled album and 2015 EP ‘Adolescence’. The final date, the 20th, will see the punk trio play their this year’s second album ‘Outsiders’ in full at the Sebright Arms.

Tickets for each day cost £10 and a three day pass is worth £25. You can purchase them here.

Entitled Gnarnival, the event will begin at the Montague Arms on the 14th December where they’ll play their first three EPs, 2011’s ‘Fun Club’, 2012’s ‘CRU’, and 2013’s ‘Funemployed’. Then on the 15th at The Old Blue Last will see them play their 2014 debut self-titled album and 2015 EP ‘Adolescence’. The final date, the 16th, will see the punk trio play their this year’s second album ‘Outsiders’ in full at the Sebright Arms.

Tickets for each day cost £10 and a three day pass is worth £25. You can purchase them here.

The band’s latest release is the 7″ ‘Always Looming’, which was released in July. This is the first entry in a series of singles from the post hardcore band being released by Cult Culture, Smithsfoodgroup DIY, Dingleberry Records and Black Basset Records.

They will be joined by Norwich screamo duo Algae Bloom on the final three dates of the tour. Their last record was their 2016 three-way split with I Hate Sex and Black Knight Satellite on Never Better Records.

OCTOBER
27 BEDFORD Esquires w/ Gnarwolves
NOVEMBER
09 LONDON New Cross Inn w/ Scavengers
10 MARGATE Century Audio
11 SOUTHAMPTON The Shooting Star
DECEMBER
01 NORWICH Gringos* w/ Bastard
02 KINGSTON TBC*
03 MANCHESTER Jimmy’s* w/ Gun Shy

* w/ Algae Bloom

Taking place at the Green Door Store in Brighton on Saturday 2nd September, Gnarwolves will headline the show where they will be playing their second album ‘Outsiders’ in full, as well as fan favourites. This was released earlier this year on Big Scary Monsters and Tangled Talk Records. Also on the bill are Fresh, Birdskulls, Bloody Death and Beachtape, with more bands to be added soon.

Advance tickets cost £10 and are only available at Residents Records in Brighton. You can find more info here.

photo: Gingerdope photography

Taking place at the Green Door Store in Brighton on Saturday 2nd September, Gnarwolves will headline the show where they will be playing their second album ‘Outsiders’ in full, as well as fan favourites. This was released earlier this year on Big Scary Monsters and Tangled Talk Records. Also on the bill are Fresh, Birdskulls and Beachtape, with more bands to be added soon.

Advance tickets cost £10 and are only available at Residents Records in Brighton. You can find more info here.

photo: Ben Hills

Taking place on Wednesday 23rd August, the show will act as a warm up date for the band’s upcoming appearances at Reading and Leeds Festivals. Earlier this year they released their second album ‘Outsiders’ on Tangled Talk Records and Big Scary Monsters.

As well as this, the band will also be playing the following other UK dates.

AUGUST
20 BIRMINGHAM The Flapper*
21 GLASGOW Audio*
22 MANCHESTER The Star & Garter* w/ Throwing Stuff
23 DERBY The Venue
25 LEEDS Leeds Festival
27 READING Reading Festival
SEPTEMBER
02 BRIGHTON Gnar Party, Green Door Store

* w/ Defeater

All manner of punk t-shirts occupy the crowd, from makeshift TSOL or Negative FX merch to NOFX/Descendants knock-offs, H&M Ramones and Nirvana T’s and the occasional Milk Teeth or Basement extra large tie-dye. A middle aged dude in a denim vest covered in NYC hardcore patches guides his two wide-eyed identical twin sons to settle on the balcony. Interchangeable couples intersect with sullen faced loners on phones, who amble between boozed-up groups of twenty-somethings just out of the office.

Bad Religion have earned this multi-generational crowd due to two very rare traits: consistency and omnipresence. Since their first UK show in 1989, they keep coming back with exactly the same erudite anti-establishment attitude, and through the years they’ve never really changed.

But kicking off the night are Brighton’s melodic punk trio Gnarwolves. With relentless pace and a raw approach to melody, they thunder through a quintessentially English reflection of the headliners, with enough sarcastic optimism and deliberate weirdness to capture the attention of even the most cynical punk.

Opener ‘Straightjacket’ would be a classic if it was released on Fat Wreck in the ’90s, while the band’s undisputed best song ‘Bottle To Bottle’ elicits sparse singalongs from those in the know. Frontman Thom Weeks fills mid-song silence with expert banter about airline pork chops fashioned from mealworms, and it feels like a Stewart Lee bit. Bassist Charlie Piper shrieks like a banshee and drummer Max Weeks hurtles into ‘Boneyard’ with the athletic resilience of a professional marathon runner.

Closing powerfully, the casuals here might be inclined to see this as a passing of the baton. But as the support wander off, their slapdash hand-painted banner drops to reveal Bad Religion’s iconic CrossBuster logo, and a wave of excitement ripples through the room. The drunk twenty-somethings take skew-whiff selfies as proof of attendance, while the sullen-faced loners weave to the centre of the room in trembling mosh pit anticipation. The rest of the room realises they’re about to experience something immortal.

Legendary guitarist/Epitaph founder Brett Gurewitz enters first, looking remarkably unaffected by the previous decade, followed by frontman Greg Graffin, who skips onto stage with two extended middle fingers and launches into ‘American Jesus’ like he’s been frozen in a block of ice since the last show. A career-wide set follows, covering everything from 1982’s ‘We’re Only Gonna Die’ to 2013’s ‘Fuck You’ with a reliable sonic consistency that never once sacrifices energy for musicianship. They retain the band’s signature aloof sense of melody throughout.

There’s also something new at play: every one of Graffin’s Gurewitz-penned political lyrics is enunciated more clearly than usual. It’s as if in the shadow of Trump lines like “sometimes truth is stranger than fiction” and “they hide behind their lies that they’re helping everyone” have a new lease of life.

This same re-energisation is echoed in drummer Jamie Miller’s mechanical stamina, while bassist Jay Bentley acts as second frontman, still beaming like it’s his first show, and the faithful crowd reaction is a welcome surprise. Specific highlights include mid-paced anthem ’21st Century Digital Boy’, which evokes the loudest singalong of the night, and ‘Punk Rock Song’ which encapsulates everything that has given the band such longevity. The closing encore of ‘The Handshake’, ‘Infected’ and ‘Fuck Armageddon… This Is Hell’ whips the pits into peak madness and then the band suddenly vanishes into thin air.

Fire exits fill with the same families and couples and loners as before, but this time it’s quieter. Ironically, a Bad Religion show is a borderline religious experience. Attendees bear witness to something familiar and impossible to forget, leaving with refreshed political and personal tools to live by. The decades have given them a similar reputation to bands like Slayer or AC/DC — a comforting and exhilarating experience, that garners both retrospective acclaim and imprints itself on the present with an ever-shifting sense of socio-political relevance. Maybe the definition of ‘heritage act’ needs a rethink?

LEO TROY