A lot of my pieces on Us For Once are about punk rock. I believe in the scene wholeheartedly and find myself always looking for new subgenres of it to immerse myself in. I will admit, however, that it is my biggest fear that the scene will one day soon die out. It takes a band such as Project Revise to resolve those fears of mine.
Upon listening to the band's 2017 EP 'Songs That Sound Like Songs,' not only can I confirm that these songs do in act sound like songs, but I can also say that those songs sound like songs that will keep this scene alive. The six-track compilation of songs starts off with a song called 'Tie Me Down.' Smart move by the band, who are native to the UK, because it is the perfect way to pull in a listener like me. Without even noticing at first, I was nodding my head to the beat and drumming along on my laptop. With a voice that screamed classic punk rock, I ecstatic for what was to come next. The second song, and possibly my favorite of the album, is called 'Three Long Years.' Immediately I felt like I had been thrown back into the 'Enema Of The State' era Blink-182, who, not surprisingly, is listed as one of project Revise's inspirations. Long notes from the throat, heavy guitars, and multiple vocal overlays fill your ears in this one, giving you no room to breathe. Which, in punk rock, is always a good thing. I can easily picture mosh pits being opened and crowd surfers being lifted to this song.
Listeners are greeted by a longer guitar solo at the beginning of the next track, 'Time WIll Carry You.' To further make me feel like I was listening to old punk tapes that were handed down to me as a kid, the lyrics felt absolutely nostalgic in this one. "I find it hard to say what's really on my mind. You think you know her, you don't know her." perhaps not groundbreaking, but sung in enough way to get their point across and pull at some heartstrings. This is also the part I started thinking about how cool it was that I could hear their accent while they were singing, but that's just me.
Perhaps as a response to the previous song, the fourth track is entitled 'Every Time Breaks.' The vocals are more spaced out, leaving extra room for those sick raw guitar and drum sounds. As if these guys couldn't remind me of another important aspect of a punk tape, they even filled the criteria of one song that sounded a bit like a ballad. At a live show, this song would include a little less moshing and a lot more soulful crowd surfing and reflection from the audience. If you couldn't tell, I'm ready to see these guys live, right here, right now. At this point, the laptop drumming got a bit more intense. 'Take A Moment' is such a lovable and upbeat along, I'm looking forward to the next time I bring a friend on a long road trip. there will definitely be a mini jam session to this one, windows down and all. Realizing that this was the fifth track, I quietly wished that punk tracks were just a little longer. I need an endless supply of music that sounds exactly like this.
To close this amazing record out, 'Fire Burns Out'hits us with string chords and unforgiving lyrics. I can hear it in the music, that these guys believe in keeping punk rock alive just as much as I do. They're not making this music in the hopes that old punk kids who are desperate for new music will turn to them without a choice. They are doing it because this is the type of music that they love. Raw, unfiltered, classic punk rock, with no ridiculous twists or turns. Sometimes I think we'll never hear new punk music like we used to. It'll all be something like alternative punk, cowpunk, pop-punk, etc. Don't get me wrong, I love all forms of punk. I'll listen to and fall in love with just about anything that has the punk label tied to it. But sometimes I just need t get back to the roots of it. I'm not sure how they did it, but somehow, Project Revise made me feel like we never left the era of peak punk rock in the first place. We really do need more songs that sound like songs. Both literally and figuratively, Project Revise has created just that for us.
Check out 'Songs That Sound Like Songs' on Spotify and get ready to stage dive right back into that classic punk rock sound.