Monday, August 18, 2008

The Skuids - "Skate-Happy Demo" review


It's been a long time since I've seen a skate punk band come around. Especially a band of genuine 18-year-olds, who truly embrace a punk rock spirit. There's something about it that is just way too reminiscent of high school, which isn't a bad thing at all.
The Skuids, from El Paso, TX, are definitely no emo, Fall Out Boy-influenced guys. Rather, their tunes sound a lot like the older stuff such as NOFX, Screeching Weasel and Bad Religion.
Javi, the band's vocalist, seems to embody a sort of old school Tom DeLonge sound to his voice. But instead of being backed by Blink 182's poppy punk rock, the music has more of a ska influence and sounds like a mesh between Authority Zero, Suicidal Tendencies and NOFX.
The Skuids have a four-song demo up on its MySpace page, with free MP3s of the songs.
Listening to these guys brings me back to my early days of getting into punk rock; being upset, confused, frustrated and totally 100 percent fucking cynical.
The Skuids are a lot of fun to listen to, and the best part about it is that fans of old school punk rock and skate punk will appreciate them, as will the new fans of this 21st century band.
"The Power of Thinking Positive" is my favorite. It's a song about people always seeming to want to bring themselves down. Javi, The Skuids' lead singer, says that so many people don't know how to think positive; it makes him want to frown.
I find it kinda funny in way. It's a song about thinking positive, but with the negativity of all others around you, it's so hard to not frown. But there's a message of hope in there somewhere that says no matter how negative people are, you have to keep your chin up.
Fans of punk and all its subgenres should check out The Skuids.
The Skuids are not only fun to listen to, but reassuring in the sense that a hope for the next generation of good, true punk rock music is not totally lost.

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