Let’s talk about this Pinhead Gunpowder record first. I have a soft spot for Green Day. Dookie was the first CD I ever owned and even though fourth grade me was slightly scared of the weird dudes pictured in the liner notes, I was a huge fan. I didn’t actually have a CD player of my own at that point, so I spent far more time analyzing the drawing on the front of the album than I did actually listening to it. Eventually I got ahold of their Lookout! material and I was over the moon with it. By the end of junior high, however, the love affair had faded. When I first learned about Pinhead Gunpowder, I remember thinking instantly that they had to be amazing. "How could they not be?“ I thought. "They can’t be sellouts if they’re still on Lookout! Is that the same Cometbus who writes Cometbus? No way!” At the time, I’m fairly certain that Cometbus was the only zine I’d ever heard of, let alone actually read. Naturally, I sought them out. I think I did it hoping to kind of enjoy Green Day again in a way that would be a little more accepted amongst my peers than just flat out liking Green Day. I never really liked em that much though. I always felt like I was just hearing songs that hadn’t made the cut for a Green Day record (even though all the songs on this release were written by Cometbus- go figure).

I picked this one up out of curiosity after I saw that the drums and xerox art were credited to “Aaron”. Although at the time I didn’t know for sure if they were referring to Aaron Cometbus, I figured that it was a safe bet that they were; there probably aren’t too many punk rock drummin’, xerox art makin’, Aarons out there. The band also features Rymodee of This Bike is a Pipe Bomb on guitar and two individuals whose work I am not otherwise familiar with, Skott and Cindy, on vocals and bass, respectively. This is a release that should be avoided by anyone thinking they’re going to find something similar to any of the band members’ other projects. This EP is punk in short, sharp, shouted, mostly melodic bursts. The mix is dominated by Rymodee’s guitar, which is soaked in distortion in sharp contrast to the sound he employs with This Bike.