I’m sure most people have made their best of 2019 lists by now but I’m not really into those lists so for me it seemed a better option to do a year in review piece. The following is a bunch of punky stuff that got me excited in 2019.
The most exciting release for me this year was Bad Religion’s ‘Age of Unreason’ probably cause they are my favourite American punk band. It came out on the 5th of May and is the reason I started reviewing international bands for Crannk … Seriously, I only started at Crannk to promote my local scene and help it grow.
A bunch of ageing punk bands released new stuff this year including Lagwagon – Railer, Millencolin -S.O.S, Raised Fist – Anthems and Zebrahead – Brain Invaders. Epitaph and Fat Wreck Chords managed to put out an amazing mix of new and old punk this year as they have since they first appeared. I got pretty excited about the Cokie the Clown album ‘You’re Welcome’ which was an unexpectedly different release but enjoyable there was also new tracks from NOFX. Perhaps the most exciting Fat Wreck Chords release for me in 2019 was the Clowns Nature/Nurture album … which leads us nicely back to my local scene.
Way back in January I was listening to a new track from Victorian surf coast band All Hope Remains. ‘Hit Rewind’ was a great melodic skatepunk song and the band followed up with ‘Unescapable in February before releasing a new EP ‘Feel The Fire’ in March.
Melbourne band Brodown released an album called ‘The Adventures of Brodown and The Mutant Pizza Goblin from Outer Space‘ way back in February. The album art is some of the best I got to see this year and the 8 new tracks were spectacular. February was also the month I discovered a band called The Arturos who are from Brisbane, Queensland. Their Ramones inspired sound and band name were so interesting and entertaining to me.
In March a Melbourne band called The One Twos released their first single ‘No Ticker‘ which got me all sorts of fired up and I followed them closely most of the year expecting big things from the debut album ‘Fight The Good Fight‘ … yes, when the album came out it was everything I expected and more.
I was excited about a lot of the Melbourne punk releases like Blind Man Death Stare – Comin’ In Hot, Stoned To Death – 4:20 Sessions, Amyl and The Sniffers – self-titled, The Murderballs – Gross Encounters, Slush – self-titled EP, Black Monroe – self-titled EP, The Kat O Army singles ‘I’ll Meet You At The Milk Bar’ and ‘Garage Girl’, Undamaged – Destroy, Garlic Nun – High Society/Welcome To The Nunnery, Trash & The Treasures – Reduced To Clear and Commissioner Bourbon – Indianapolis Jones And The Crusade For The Last Dart.
Outside of the Melbourne scene a few regional Victorian bands released some amazing music this year like Broken English – Leave (Albury/Wodonga), Dero – Aim Low Reach For The Middle (Bendigo), Nibira – Set 3 (Bendigo) Donkey Vote – People Eating Tasty Animals (Ballarat) and Agent 37 – Dynamo (Ballarat).
There were a few live releases that I thought were great and that’s unusual cause I hate most live recordings but the Face To Face Live In A Dive album was so good and even Australia had some live releases with Aluminum Monster – Mashing It Live at The Tote and Grindhouse Live at Goatsound being the ones that got me all excited.
A whole bunch of exciting punky stuff came out of Perth, Western Australia this year like Incomplete – self-titled, The Donald Trumpets – Waterboarding at Guantanamo Bay EP, The Decline – Flash Gordon Ramsey Street, Nautical Mile – The Only Way Is Through, Homestate – self-titled EP and Blindspot – Final Allure.
The punk scene in New South Wales gave up multiple goodies like The Leftards – Deep C Divers EP, Trashed Again – Another Way To Fail EP, Crash and The Carpenters – ‘Rise Up’ and ‘It Ain’t Weak To Speak’, Apprehension Avenue – The Forgotten West, The Phosphorus Bombs – Against You EP and the amazing stuff that was put out by the new Wollongong label Wreckless Enterprise. Those Short Fuse comps are amazing.
South Australia delivered some cool punky tunes with Scum Of The Surf – The Thrills Of Modern Society, Idly By – self titled, Collateral Damage – Barbie Anthem and The Packets – Bad People which had me trying to sing along while laughing.
A few international releases that you might have missed like Pizzatramp – Grand Relapse, Uke Punk – I Blame The Parents and Discover A Fire – The Rest Is Mystery all came out of the UK this year.
There was a whole lot more but this was a last-minute idea so that’s all your getting. Thanks to Crannk for putting up with me and thanks to the bands that have entertained me.
Here’s a playlist I put together through 2019 that contains a track from most of the bands I reviewed.
