Admiral Ackbar’s Dishonorable Discharge are a ska/punk band from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia who have been around about 10 years. The band’s previous releases include ‘Doing Your Mum Proud!‘ from 2012 and ‘It Was The Best Of Times‘ from 2014. In 2018 the band had a song from ‘The Best Of Times‘ featured on the ‘Punx In Exile‘ compilation from In Exile Records.
The new release Sick/Brunswick Breakout has certainly been a long time coming but the band has managed to deliver the funny and catchy tunes they are known for. The new release was produced, recorded and mixed by Toffer Rush, mastered by Dan Scalpelli
The first track ‘Sick‘ (1:59) starts with some nice drum work and leads into a catchy horn part with some musical stabs from the rest of the band in the background. As it passes from intro to verse the guitar part changes to a typical two-tone ska pattern, clean upstrokes playing that infectious and bouncy rhythm. The moment the vocals start it becomes obvious that the lyrical content while funny is actually rather negative but as I said the words are written in a way that at least I find humorous and the vocal melody is fast enough to fit well with the ska rhythm. The chorus parts pack a punch as the guitar gets some distortion added to it and the horn section plays in a way that emphasizes the vocal hook while also leaving room for it to be heard clearly. The line “you make me sick” is quickly followed with gang-style backups a couple of times before a line change to “why won’t you shut up” its so catchy. In the second verse, you can hear the horn section quietly building so the energy of the song doesn’t drop and after another chorus part, there is a breakdown moment where the guitar, horns, and bass all get a turn to show off individually followed by a vocal scat part and another build to a final chorus. This song is such a well-crafted piece of ska-punk, I’ll be listening to it for a long time.
The second track ‘Brunswick Breakout‘ (1:38) is slightly shorter and has more of a punky feel. The distorted guitars play a familiar progression of power chords with a Ramones feel. As the verse part starts you can hear the horn section building between pauses in the vocals. The verse and chorus parts aren’t well defined like the first song. The breakdown part of the song changes it up to a clean guitar playing upstrokes in a typical ska pattern while the horn section adds an overlaying melody. The music goes back to the punky stuff for one more catchy run, then it’s a fantastic ending with well-timed musical stabs and an echo on the last words.
Admiral Ackbar’s Dishonorable Discharge are Toffer Rush – vocals/guitar; Matt Sexworth – guitar/vocals; Crow – bass/vocals; Dan – drums; Nath – trombone/vocals; Rizzie – saxophone/vocals:
Facebook Link https://www.facebook.com/aaddskapunx/
Apple Music Link https://music.apple.com/au/album/sick-single/1502363621
Bandcamp Link http://aaddskapunx.bandcamp.com/album/sick-brunswick-breakout
Triple J Unearthed Link https://www.triplejunearthed.com/artist/admiral-ackbars-dishonourable-discharge
Youtube Link https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k6vNEh6ZwKDcr1XZFAGFVTUeOuzrXQxps
