New York City’s Dizzy Bats will be making ‘90s-style pop punk until they die. Their latest release is just that, a three-song EP of ‘90s-style pop punk titled Until We Die. Much like past releases, it’s got a very ‘90s Green Day sound, though the subject matter and sound have matured a bit. It’s like a young Green Day time-travelled to the future and was now stuck as a millenial in New York City, missing out on the more political path they went down in our timeline. Until We Die is like past Dizzy Bats releases still covers things that most 20-something millennials are going through, but now those millennials may have the idea of settling down on their minds (plus the crippling anxiety that leads to insomnia and the inability to get on a subway.) There’s less about partying, and heck, isn’t that the case for all of us aging millenials?
The Dizzy Bats’ current lineup is a standard pop-punk foursome with Connor Frost providing vocals and guitar, Dave Ma providing vocals and bass, Jared Sochinsky on guitar, and Derek Swink on drums. There’s more detail on the guitar work this time around. The first single, “Until We Die,” is slowed down, letting the guitar echo. “Count My Sheep” is frantic and fun. “With You I’m Dead” is somewhere in the middle, quick and charming.
Despite clinging to the ‘90s pop punk of their youth, there’s a new maturity to Dizzy Bats’s lyrics. They’re still pining over a girl who’s out of their league on “With You I’m Dead,” but keep it more grown-up than other pop-punk singles on the same subject. The lyrics are filled with enough self-deprecating humor to keep it from being a whiny Simple Plan song and they’re clever enough to avoid the potty jokes of early Blink-182. Lines like “You’re a ten and I’m just a Chinese six, what a masochist” keep it at just the right humor level. “Until We Die” covers the idea of settling down, pouring out the alcohol, putting down the weed, and signing a lease. Actually, it seems to be counting down to all of that – they claim they still won’t go to sleep until they’re dead, but little do they know that that countdown will soon bring them to the threat of multi-day hangovers as punishment for one night of drinking. Soon the countdown will tick down to 9 pm bedtimes and orthopedic shoes. “Count My Sheep” is a bit more frantic, mentioning some major anxieties – more than the usual millennial crises, like being preoccupied with death and illness. Despite the subject matter, it’s so quick that it stays fun.
Dizzy Bats are always good for a quick hit of ‘90s nostalgia and this little collection is their strongest release to date. With only three songs, there is no filler. Millennials, send yourselves back to high school with the sound, but stay in the present with the humor.
Rating: 7.0/10
