The Stiffies - Rub It In

For my final record review of the decade, I have the pleasure of writing about an album that really takes me back to my roots in punk music. I've often said that 1995 was my 1977, and I will forever be attached to the later '90s incarnation of '77 punk rock. Straight out of Tulsa, Oklahoma, The Stiffies play snotty '77 meets West Coast punk that would have been right at home on record labels like TKO, Pelado, and Radio Records circa the late '90s/early 2000s. Rub It In is the band's debut album, and it's out now on No Front Teeth Records. NFT is one of my go-to labels for '77 punk and one of my favorite labels, period. If it's on NFT, you know it rules! I love this sort of pure old school punk, and I'm a bit nostalgic for a time when I could review two or three bands like this every month. But nostalgia be damned - I like stuff like this because it's a timeless sound! I could throw a song like "My Baby Ain't Fun" or "I Don't Wanna Be Your Friend" on a mixed tape with everyone from The Stitches to The Trust Fund Babies to The Randumbs, and it would all fit together perfectly. I can definitely sense a kindred spirit relationship (and perhaps some overlapping membership?) with another Tulsa band The Wheelz. The Stiffies' sound has a little bit more of a punk rock and roll edge to it, but there's that some snotty attitude and penchant for catchy, sing-along tunes. Rub It In was made to be played at obnoxiously loud volumes while you guzzle beer with one hand and flip somebody off with the other. If you like old school punk by way of '90s California, this album will make you damn glad that bands like this still exist. As always, you'll want to hit up No Front Teeth Records for info on the alternate versions of the LP - which will be long gone if you snooze too long!



-L.R.

https://thestiffies.bandcamp.com/album/rub-it-in 
https://www.facebook.com/thestiffiestulsa/ 
https://www.nofrontteeth.co.uk/ 
https://www.facebook.com/No-Front-Teeth-Records-117591658310943/