Shorebirds - It's Gonna Get Ugly

As his post-Latterman career continues, it's becoming increasingly apparent that Matt Canino will never be able to shake that band off of his back. Everything he puts out will inevitably be compared to Latterman. Even more odd about this is the fact that Latterman really wasn't doing anything terribly groundbreaking (I say this even as a gigantic fan of the band). I would like to think that beating the shit out of your instruments, making a huge melodic racket, and singing so hard your voice goes out, your head throbs, and your face turns red, hell, the entire concept of actually giving a fuck, was something that never went out of style to begin with.

So let's back up a second, and disregard band names, how big those bands were, and who happens to be in the band, and make a general declaration: No matter what band he is currently in, Matt Canino might be one of the most consistent songwriters out there today when it comes to melodic, heartfelt punk rock. In his songs, there will be singalong parts, there will be gruff shouting, and there will be chord progressions that are incredibly simple, yet undeniably effective. The dude does a lot with a little.

Drummer Keith Henderson, Canino, and bassist Chris Bauermeister (who played in some California band called Jawbreaker. Hm...sounds familiar.) only put out one seven inch and one full length under the Shorebirds name. While their breaking up kind of sucks, at least they went out like sattelite debris crashing to earth over Siberia (heads up, everyone).

Fuck, I can't avoid it any longer. I have to drop one Latterman comparison. It's Gonna Get Ugly, the sole Shorebirds full length, takes the time tested L-man formula and injects about 50% more upbeat energy into it. Yes, that is possible. Frantic is a word I would definitely use to describe this album. It's almost as if they only had a few hours in the studio, so they played everything faster than usual. I mean, just listen to "Circles." The song absolutely rips past you in 1:17 and still manages to contain some of the best hooks on the album. Henderson rocks the 1-2 punk beat to death, and the switch to half time near the end is just clutch.

Lyrically, it's interesting to see Canino move further away from the posi-cheerleading he admitted to getting tired of in Latterman. Some of the songs could even be described as bleak, such as late album highlight "Run Away." However, the dude still loves the recurring theme trick that Latterman used a few times, this time in the form of the line "The city's exploding," which is not only the first line of the entire album, but arguably the centerpiece of the closing track. As if this wasn't obvious enough, the songs are titled "Highways" and "Byeways." GET IT? IT'S ALL LIKE, CONNECTED, MAN.

When Shorebirds was formed, Canino had just moved from New York to the West Coast (Washington state, I do believe). It's Gonna Get Ugly only goes to show that you can change everything else around you, be it where you live, your friends, your dietary habits, but some things will always stay the same, even if they appear a little different at first.

So yeah, check this album out if you can get your hands on it. It's more than worth the 27 minutes it takes to fly by you.

-Erik