FLASHLIGHT BROWN
My Degeneration (Hollywood Records)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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This major label debut from Canadian punk rockers (emphasis on the rock, please) Flashlight Brown may time in just under 30 minutes, but hey, it's 10 bucks list and it's hard to imagine where you'll get more fun for a smaller investment. After working the Canadian club circuit non-stop and cutting their teeth on a series of indie CDs, EPs and split singles, these guys have honed their chops and were definitely ready when the call came from producer Rob Cavallo. More than ready, really, since the call came while they were camped out in their van on a bad leg of a brutal tour, wondering where the gas money was coming from to escape Calgary.

The gas money turned out to be plane tickets to LA, and the outcome of the trip was My Degeneration, 11 solid songs that serve as fine reminders of why we fell in love with punk music in the first place. While the scene has long since been consumed by posers of all stripes, it's important to remember that punk wasn't invented by the cool kids. The cool kids didn't have to play for free to get invited to the good parties. They didn't have time to learn what a twenty sided die was for, or to practice rapid fire power chords. Nope. The cool kids were winning football games and getting laid. The skinny kids with bad complexions? They were busy inventing punk rock.

So here you've got songs about days wasted on D&D, the glories of binary code and the humiliation of being mistaken for a girl by your grade school teacher. Not cool subjects, necessarily. Certainly not the things that the cool kids worried about. But cool music, very cool music, played very hot. So far, this one's the winner of my personal punk sweepstakes for 2003.

Track List:

Ready To Kill * A Freak * Patricia * Go And Die * Whoa Man * Lose The Shades * Today * Praise The Day * I'll Only Make You Cry * Looking Away * Butterball

© 2003 - Shaun Dale