The Easy Lovers make an album!

Having first gotten into punk rock largely due to an obsession with the Ramones, Queers, and Screeching Weasel, I'm always pumped to hear newer bands that take me back to the excitement of those times. Hailing from Norman, Oklahoma, The Easy Lovers play ballsy pop-punk with a sick & twisted sense of humor. What's not to love about that?! Get A Job, the band's long-awaited debut album, has me feeling like it's 1995 all over again. Seriously: I can close my eyes and smell the leather jacket of my youth! And while The Easy Lovers definitely fall into that familiar style of pop-punk, I don't get the feeling that I've heard this band a hundred times before. These guys take what I've always loved about this genre of music and add plenty of their own personality. You've got bratty lead vocals in the neighborhood of Sloppy Seconds or Needles//Pins, slashing guitars a la Johnny Thunders, Clash-like shout-along choruses, and lyrics I can only describe as hilariously inappropriate. I've always maintained that the best pop-punk groups are rock n' roll bands at heart, and The Easy Lovers further confirm this theory.

In a word, Get A Job is just fun. You can't have a completely bad day if this record's on your turntable. You sometimes think pop-punk and assume it's going to be a bunch of sad-sap songs about lovelorn shy guys and the girls who don't know they exist. But judging from some of these songs, I'd say that girls are well aware of these fellas' existence. And some of them probably regret it! But while the "I can't believe they went there!" effect of "Dirty Secret" or "Minute Man" is a large part of The Easy Lovers' appeal, this is far from a joke band. The awesome "Fall For You" proves that these guys can do a straight love song when they want to, while "Pills For Pills" strikes me as a pertinent commentary on our over-medicated society. And if you've ever struggled to find a niche for your band in a bar/club scene dominated by assholes and crap music, you will surely relate to the fist-pumping anthem "Blacklist".

Adding elements of '77 punk, power pop, and good old rock n' roll to the tried-and-true three-chord formula, The Easy Lovers give modern-day pop-punk a much needed kick in the pants. If I had heard Get A Job when I was 24, I probably would have run out into the street and screamed for joy until the authorities hauled me away. My actual reaction at age 44 was only slightly less excessive. Have I just made an addition to my top ten list of favorite bands? I believe so!






-L.R.

http://easylovers.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/EasyLovers