Guttermouth - She's Got the Look

  by Benjamin Howarth

published: 17 / 12 / 2001

Label: Epitaph Records
Format: CDS

intro

Currently one of the biggest underground scenes around, in both the UK and America, skate-punk is growing ever more popular, especially since bands like Blink 182, The Offspring and Green Day became c

Currently one of the biggest underground scenes around, in both the UK and America, skate-punk is growing ever more popular, especially since bands like Blink 182, The Offspring and Green Day became chart acts. It even gets its own festivals! In the United States, the hugely popular Vans Warped Tour treks around the country and has inspired Deconstruction in Britain, which has now taken place for the last two years in Manchester and London (see the features archive for a review of this year’s event). It was here, whilst waiting for headliners NOFX (a brilliant, underrated band who are genuinely superior in my opinion to any of the punk bands from ’77 – honestly!) that I discovered Guttermouth, who put on a show right at the bottom of the bill that only NOFX topped all day. Guttermouth have been around now for at least 10 years. This means they have witnessed an era where American punk rock has gone from being a scene where a good gig was someone’s back yard rather than their living room to one where bands sell out arenas. And none of the bands sound any different! Success looks more likely now they have signed to Epitaph records (responsible for launching the careers of NOFX, Pennywise, The Offspring, Rancid, The Dwarves and Bad Religion, and now home to one of the world’s best bands – Hot Water Music), and released a new album, 'Covered With Ants', described as a “hysterical ride through the world of a group of guys who never grew up!" This new single, taken from that album, fits that description perfectly. A simple three chord, three minute thrash with lyrics stolen from the script of 'American Pie', there are some people who will absolutely hate this record. But for everyone else this is pretty cool. Not an un-missable tune by any means but unlike some of the chart punkers, it doesn’t sound slick or obvious. In fact it sounds almost exactly like NOFX! The two B-sides are from a live set (an early morning “hangover party”) and are both a lot better. Having seen them play, I can tell you that Guttermouth are best appreciated live and these two songs give a decent representation of that experience. Guttermouth haven’t hit their peak as a studio band yet but this single is still very enjoyable.

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