Description
Skinhead – “Everything Was Beautiful, And Nothing Hurt” LP
The Oi! genre leaves me a bit baffled at the best of times, especially when it is being paraded as a display of dangerous edginess by young modern bands – why fetishize a bunch of teenage herberts from the medieval era, especially when their music was mostly piss-poor and ropey as fuck? And so this new American band who actually call themselves Skinhead (and self-tagged/described as an Oi! band) has got me thoroughly confused. Is this some kind of American irony that I don’t understand? Especially when the band in question play melodic hardcore that has more in common, sound-wise, with Hot Water Music than Gary Bushell’s “Sound Of Oi!” mediocrity. Not even close. Not even a close shave by the looks of ’em. Most of all, they remind me of Fucked Up, (and even at times a little Hold Steady). And they do it really well. Weirdly, this is on Closed Casket Activities, but then, a quick gander on Discogs and countless connections to a dozen other bands on that label are revealed. Including a couple of ties to Conservative Military Image – which does makes sense, although, another equally confusing band…
