Self-Released – 03 NOV 2020
Beat poetry in the modern era
Election Day 2020: The US presidency hangs in the balance while citizens expect the worst from the other side. People in my circle were focused on what could be, how it could have come to this and what the results will mean for the country. Walking through the day in a haze of social media’s blue light too focused on what our next witty Facebook comment to notice you walked right into oncoming traffic. That truck that saw you and pressed the gas without hesitation or apology is American Fail.
This band of whom I had no previous knowledge of came along and dropped their self-titled opus on Election Day right on my cranium. The Seattle-area band features guitarist Bobby Darling of the criminally underrated Gastbys American Dream, drummer Yuri Ruley of MXPX and Grammy-nominated producer Casey Bates. That is not a trio one should ever sleep on. This is a group of men who have proven their ability to make music as contagious as contagious as a White House Garden Party. American Fail isn’t here for earworms though. Sure, Spotify has it listed as 22 individual tracks, but this album is really a single 20 minute song.
To call this a Trump-era version of NoFX’s The Decline or even Green Day’s American Idiot would be accurate but its honestly closer to Allen Ginsburg’s seminal poem Howl.
These are the best minds of our generation; destroyed by narcissistic madness; starving and hysterical for change; naked in their bluntness of opinion.
The album is a politically-driven punk rock opus full of melodic shreds, snarling vocals and slamming rhythms. This is the issue filled rock record I’ve been waiting for since 2016, the political power that is the bedrock of punk and the modern musicianship that is accessible for the masses.
American Fail doesn’t want you to wonder where they stand on the platforms of this year’s election. Whether it’s touching on Roe V Wade, school shootings, Russian hackers, xenophobia and whatever other societal ills have been exacerbated over the last three years and nine months. Every track has a brilliant turn of phrase and lyrics holding the feet of the Republic’s failures to the flames and deserves to be heard. Loudly.
Like Allen Ginsberg, American Fail are putting their shoulders to the wheel and asking all of us to give America our all before she is nothing.
American Fail snuck up on me and handed me the soundtrack to a modern-day storming of the Bastille. This album is a few social media shares away from joining the pantheon of artistry that changes the world.
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/
