Pioneering act As Friends Rust have announced their triumphant return with the new single “Positive Mental Platitude” and the announcement of a new record.
Coming 18 August, Any Joy marks the band’s first full album since 2001’s Won. Of the new single, frontman Damien Moyal explains:
‘Positive Mental Platitude’ is about performative concern, using Facebook’s “Care reaction” emoji to symbolize the fairly empty gestures we make to show solidarity or sympathy without getting too close. We now have constant visibility into each other’s lives, so when we see someone suffering some misfortune, there’s an expectation to acknowledge it and empathize in spite of our own busy lives, struggles and tragedies. This dynamic requires new tools, and quick ones, to keep pace. With a single emoticon – praying hands, a heart, a muscular arm flexing – we can fulfill our ends of the social contract, neatly and conveniently. Reflexively. It’s not without its merits. I do it. But it’s not particularly meaningful, either. Sweet, but no staying power.”
You can preorder the new album from End Hits Records here or digitally here.
Bad Dad (occasionally called Ed) has been on the periphery of the punk and punk-adjacent scene for over twenty years. While many contributors to this site have musical experience and talent, Ed’s musical claim to fame comes from his time in arguably the most punk rock Blockbuster Video district in NJ where he worked alongside members of Blanks 77, Best Hit TV and Brian Fallon. He is more than just an awful father to his 2 daughters, he is also a dreadful husband, a subpar writer, a terrible dresser and has a severe deficiency in all things talent… but hey, at least he’s self-aware, amirite?
Check out the pathetic attempts at photography on his insta at https://www.instagram.com/bad_dad_photography/
