Sunday, August 18, 2024

The Putz - Too Little Too Late


Duuuuuuuude! The Putz, who've long been a band I would place in the top tier of present-day pop-punk, have unleashed what could very well be their best album yet! Out now on Mom's Basement Records, Too Little Too Late is their fifth album and first in four years. At first, this may come off as something a little different for The Putz. It leans more to the the snottier, more aggressive side of pop-punk and less to the "pop" side of pop-punk. But when I look back over The Putz's body of work, I realize that this band has always excelled at snarky three-chord punk blasters. The ratio of hate songs to love songs may be a little higher on this release, but essentially this is a vintage Putz effort. When it comes to pulling off a fuck-off attitude yet keeping the songs totally fun, no band can top The Putz. Billy started writing this album during peak lockdown times, so of course his lyrics reflect a great deal of frustration and dissatisfaction. But this is by no means a "dark" album. Billy, Dougie, and Pat are operating at a master class level in the fine art of channeling intense negativity into triumphant songs that will have you bobbing your head, tapping your toes, and shouting along until all your troubles melt away. Songs rage against everything from your asshole boss to douchers named Chad to people who never shut their mouths to haters of punk rock to chowder heads to whiners to pharmaceuticals to your scumbag friends to a refrigerator devoid of beer. Mixed in are some Ramones-based rockers like "Teenage Hand Grenade" (reminding me of superstar label mates the SUCK) and a couple of absolutely perfect pop-punk love songs, including the masterpiece "I Hope You Stick Around" (featuring Leah Putz on lead vocals). Put it all together, and you've got everything you could want from a pop-punk record. You know Mom's Basement Records ain't messing around! 

Of course there are a whole lot of bands out there that worship at the altar of The Queers in their early to mid '90s peak years. Most of them are enjoyable to some degree but come off like obvious copyists. The Putz, on the other hand, remind me of why I loved all those Queers records but don't sound like they're trying to be The Queers. A lot of that has to do with Billy's unique, authentic appeal as a vocalist. With every word that comes out of his mouth, there's no doubt you're buying what he's selling. And of course you won't find three other musicians in the world who are more perfectly suited to playing this kind of music. This band includes my favorite living drummer and a guitarist who recently released the best pop-punk album in a decade. But much love is also warranted for the author of these songs. It takes an incredible amount of smarts to write great songs this dumb, and it's high time that the genius of Billy Putz be acknowledged.

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