Sunday, May 17, 2020

Know Your '90s Punk: The Beltones

Any list I'd ever make of the greatest punk bands of the '90s would have The Beltones in the thick of the conversation. Formed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1994, the original incarnation of The Beltones featured Bill McFadden on guitar and vocals, Rob Sessions on guitar, Chris Arocha on bass, and Kevin Krook on drums. Very quickly the band released 7-inch records on Far Out and Just Add Water Records - two of the coolest punk labels of the day. Record reviews without fail compared The Beltones to Stiff Little Fingers. But while those comparisons were hardly off base, they probably did the band a disservice (and yes, I can guarantee you I was one of the guilty parties!).

Listening now to The Beltones' '90s body of work, I hear a remarkable punk group. Of course the gruff vocals combined with a melodic approach bring to mind a certain band from Belfast. But The Beltones had their own thing going on - a sound and style forged in great part from the influence of American roots and rock & roll. The sound was raw and gritty as hell, but at heart McFadden was a very traditional songwriter and storyteller. While other punk bands of the day were going on about girls or politics, The Beltones tackled heavy themes like loss, despair, alcoholism, and family dysfunction. Now this was an artist who kept it real! In 1998, The Beltones signed with TKO Records and released the mini-album On Deaf Ears. I consider On Deaf Ears to be an essential release in the annals of '90s punk. It's comprised mostly of re-recorded versions of earlier songs but also features the absolutely devastating "Let The Bombs Fall". If you can read the lyrics to that song and not conclude that Bill McFadden is an extraordinary songwriter, I don't know if we're speaking the same language.

The Beltones would go on to release a proper full-length album for TKO in 2001 called Cheap Trinkets. A year later, they independently released a single called "Come Back". And while the band has not put out any new recordings since, it has continued to play live for two decades with numerous changes in personnel and geographic base. The band's 7" on Just Add Water, "My Old Man", was without doubt one of the greatest punk singles of the '90s. It was most recently reissued in 2018 and can probably be acquired at a reasonable price. The rest of the catalog may be harder to come by, but it's all great stuff and very worthy of a comprehensive digital reissue. Somebody make that happen!


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