Half Dizzy – Yard Sale (Punkerton) (13th Floor Album Review)
Long Island punk-rockers Half Dizzy have recently released their latest love-letter to nineties Epitaph Records punk releases in their album Yard Sale.
The fourteen track LP is a nostalgic look at the difficulties of life (and I can only guess the soundtrack in particular that said life had on in the background between 1994-2003).
If the words Fat Wreck Chords, Epitaph and/or Shock Records (which I seem remember being on many the label of punk records I picked up in the late nineties/early noughties in Aotearoa) mean anything to you, you’re going to connect with this album in some shape or form.
It’s 90s skate punk. It’s there from the first double kick of the drum. It’s there from the first octave power chord guitar lead. It’s there in the bass player trying to chew the scenery underneath the full band (yet keeping to simple driving root notes when the spotlight is on them). When the Brody Dalle-esque voice entered on opener and album-title, Yard Sale, I was transported back to putting a new copy of Punk-O-Rama into my Sony Discman (with G-Protection, just so the track wouldn’t skip!).
Of course, it’s hardly surprising. Punkerton Records appear to be signing and distributing bands that are embracing the sensibilities that made North American punk-rock a powerhouse thirty years ago. Half Dizzy have even managed to pick up Bouncing Souls guitarist, Pete Steinkopf to step in as producer.
As someone who tried so hard to hold onto this genre until I was in my extremely late teens, I actually found it a rather perplexing listen. Part of me found refreshing to hear new punk rock music that gave me the nostalgic feel, as if I’d just listened to Millencolin’s Life on a Plate, Diesel Boy’s Cock Rock or Less Than Jake’s Hello Rockview (three albums I remember listening to in quick succession!).
But, on the other hand, could the band be doing injustice to the genre by not progressing beyond the year 1998? I have memories of going to a punk gig a few years ago, and my takeaway was that punk had got bearded, fat and everyone suddenly wore a hat. Are the kids going out to see new bands like Half Dizzy? Or is it older people riding the nostalgia wave? I genuinely hope it’s the former.
Husband and wife team Daniel Marchelewski and Dizzy Doll front the band, forming it while being stuck in isolation during the global pandemic. While Marchelewski has previously sung lead on preceding releases, it’s Dizzy Doll who takes on the majority of the vocal duties in this outing. They do have a pleasant duet together on the song November 3rd (surely that’s a Lagwagon reference!).
Yard Sale is full of catchy songs. Half Dizzy have done their homework in that part of their song writing. They do sometimes struggle to walk the line between influence and imitation. Turn This Up feels like it has been lifted from a Rancid Record. Although, I will admit that it was rather refreshing to hear some ska infused tunes across the album.
The lyrics paint a message of living in the past. In All or None the vocalists lament about wishing they could go back to a better time. I guess if you’re playing music cemented in a particular era, perhaps looking back is all you can do. It’s hard to write an anthem about the injustice of your child not doing their homework when you ask them to.
The chubby, baggy-jeaned teenager (with a waxed-up fringe so I looked like the Statue of Liberty) in me enjoyed this album. If you owned a Punk-O-Rama album in the nineties, I am sure you’ll revel in the nostalgia Half Dizzy provides. I just hope the kids are inspired to take a chance on this.
Daniel Edmonds
Yard Sale is out now on Punkerton Records
