Mick, of the Flagpolers hit me up to give them a listen and I was stoked because they didn't suck. Nothing worse than having to tell a guy all his hard work and effort was wasted, and that perhaps he should look into a career at something menial. Then again, who the fuck am I, just some faceless doofus who likes "some" music and has an opinion (like an asshole, everyone has right). In the case of the Flagpolers (not too sure about the name of the band, must be some kind of an inside joke), from the getgo they go full steam ahead and rock hard. My first response to Mick was, "The dual vocals really stand out to me and I like how you guys are melodic and catchy, but still have that abrasive hardcore edge." Nothing too earth shattering as far as what I had to say, sometimes I'm not very deep, but this is not some sophisticated band like their fellow country men Rush, no need for fluffy big words, these guys are straight and to the point. No granny gears gears for these guys, they skip right ahead to 5th gear, burning rubber the whole way.
The guitarist can really crank out the chords, high speed Johnny Ramone-esque, and the bass stays right there pounding along with him like they're neck and neck in some drag race. The drummer doesn't waste any time with fills and frills, he reminds me of the drummer for ZZ Top but on speed. As I said though, what makes them stand out to me is the dual vocals, that trading off then singing along type of thing, think dueling banjos in Deliverance, it only serves to make the band seem like they're going even faster. We're not talking grindcore, power violence, blistering fast, Flagpolers, do it old school style with new school flavor (hahaha).
Here's how the guys describe themselves, "Rough Hooky Punk Rock from Vancouver, Canada. Made up of 3/4 Irish Immigrants and a Famine Dodger playing Punk in the same vein of Leatherface, Guns n Wankers and snuff." Never heard of those bands, but these guys are probably fucking better anyway. Something really solid about Mick, is that he comes across as very down to earth and just one of the good guys, the kind that every scene needs plenty of if it's going to thrive. Invited me (and the 9 other blogger he asked to do a review) to stop by and stay with him if I was ever up Vancouver way...I've always wanted to do the Seattle/Vancouver thing. The first song gets right to it and is probably my favorite...
"Retentioncon"
[audio mp3="http://mustard-relics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/1.FLAGPOLERS-Retentioncon.mp3"][/audio]
"I'm at square one
in a job i said i'd never do again
it's like I was time punched
some things similar alot very different
this was not my intention
I planned to escape to work that betters me
this isn't retention this is retroactive continuity
Talking to bastards
isn't quite the craic that it's cracked up to be
taking the blame while standing rigid behind corporate policy
somebodies listening if i lose it they'll have evidence on me
and when they catch me i'll blame retroactive continuity
somethings not right here
someone must've wrote this in to mess with me
is this my life or is this retroactive continuity"
Good stuff Maynard! They've got a Facebook and a Bandcamp (embedded below)...
http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=458318352/size=small/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/transparent=true/
...a buddy of theirs did a real nice job putting this vid together for them, the footage is of them "when we were touring north a bit"... [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YCT4_hYL3A]
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