Big Bruise Records, 05 Aug 2022
Pinoles offer up some pop punk nuggets on Just Wanna.
California punks Pinoles don’t mean to do anything new. They just sound like they love old Green Day and Ramones and write songs that wear the influences on their sleeve. Nothing more, nothing less. The new one, Just Wanna, is a 9-song blast through driving rhythms, catchy hooks, and memorable melodies. It’s not the fastest stuff in the world and it’s not overflowing with angst. Instead, these are feel good pop punk jams that hit right and plant a flag in my brain.
Just Wanna is loaded with catchy pop punk songs that’ll hit right with just about anyone who has an affinity for early-to-mid 90s Lookout! Records stuff. One of my favorites is the opener, the positively infectious “Lucille”. This one’s got some prominent bass to go along with the buzzing guitars and battering drums that are all over the record. The constant “Lucille, Lucille” refrain is the type of basic hook that won’t get outta my brain and the band uses some well-timed stop-and-go’s to keep the song interesting structurally. Follow up “Padded Walls” is a mid-tempo number with just the right singalong notes on the chorus. Elsewhere, the music-loving nostalgia contagion “Just Wanna” has a fantastic chorus that bursts from a chugging verse and building bridge and works in some of the most maddeningly catchy “whoa-oh-uh-oh’s” I’ve heard in a while. “Fernandez Park Party” could pretty much be described the same way, only minus the “whoa-oh’s”.
Later, “You Make Me Sick” drops in some keys to a song that gets led by the melodic bass. And “I Don’t Love You Anymore” is one of the best singalongs on an album full of them. In fact, the only moment on Just Wanna that I might personally mark as a misstep comes on the third song, “Hospital Flowers” (and even that one is unskippable for me). It’s catchy as can be, has some more terrific bass, and pops in mostly right places. I just don’t think I’m a fan of the everything-drops-out “oooh” sections of the song. Everything else is a good time to these ears.
Pinoles are gonna hit right for lots of fans of this sorta stuff. Listening through, the closest connection I might make would be the aforementioned early-Green Day one. The songs pop with an unbridled energy, the melodic bass takes a really prominent and important spot in the music, and the vocals even come across like Billie Joe’s with certain enunciations and held notes. But one other comparison I might make is to The Shivvies. They released a great album a little over a year ago, but it also wore the influences clearly and heavily on its sleeve. If that sorta thing bothers you, look elsewhere. If not, Just Wanna is for you.
Favorite song: “Padded Walls”
Favorite moment: when the chorus hit on “Lucille”, I knew this band was onto something great
Favorite whatever else: the singalong chorus on “I Don’t Love You Anymore”
ryan is a reviewer and news editor for TGEFM. He’s very secretive, he might be an alien.
