Review: The Thorazines – “Can’t Wait For Yesterday”

Self-released, July 31, 2020

The Thorazines throw together a few chords and a couple of catchy tunes.

The Thorazines come from Melbourne, Australia and have an obvious (and unhidden) penchant for Ramones and the Ramones-loving pop punks Screeching Weasel (see the Boogada-aping art).  It’s no wonder then that a bunch of what you hear on their newest EP Can’t Wait For Yesterday fits easily into that niche.

At only five songs, Can’t Wait does one thing and gets out, with only changes in pace and vocal styles from song-to-song.  My favorites of the bunch tend to be the faster songs.  Leadoff “I Saw The Ramones (And I Wish You Were There)” is fantastic.  It reeks of Screeching Weasel, right down to the Jughead-imitation lead and the snotty vocals.  The riff is a pretty standard Ramones riff (which is just alright with me) and the song will wedge into the recesses of your brain pretty quickly.  And it’s apparently about The Young Rochelles, who sing about wanting to see the Ramones.  “I Like Her Taste In Band Shirts” has my favorite guitar riff on the record (and my favorite song title) and the melodies on this one sink in.  And “Someone Took Alicia’s Dag Nasty Record” sprints by quick with alternating gritty and clean vocal takes (if I understand the notes right, both performed by D.D. Thorazine).

The other couple of songs don’t hit quite as hard for me, but are pretty good anyway.  “Nat’s Done Nothing” is an okay pretty basic song: not skippable, but not a go-to like the three mentioned above either.  The other “Here With You” is the longest on the record by a full minute (which is a tough sell for my now well-documented song attention span issues) and the song as a whole is pretty okay.  But the lead guitar comes out of left field and knocks me flat.  It just doesn’t seem quite right and hits so good at the same time.  My favorite lead on Can’t Wait. 

Can’t Wait For Yesterday is a cool, basic, Ramones-loving record.  No more, no less.  And the songs hold up.  Plus, it only takes ten minutes to hear it all. 

You might like this if:

• You haven’t hit your quota (or have no quota) of Ramones-adoring bands and records and want some fun singalongs 

You might not if:

• You’re tired of me recommending Ramones-adoring bands and records