Still Shaking are more than their obtusely confusing logo. They’re pop punk, and they’re the best thing you’ll hear today. Forget all that hype behind clowns like MGK, these guys have musical clout. They’ve opened for Dead to Me & Marky Ramone. I mean, if you’ve opened for a Ramone, I don’t even know why I need to make this a puff piece. You know its going to be good. Relax Friends is the name of the album, though I doubt you’ll have the nerves to relax after this.
Choosing a larger sound
Charging the crowd with Anxious and Airwaves, Still Shaking use the best of what is punk and give us the four-chord treatment. They replicate the energy of Rise Against & Billy Talent, and show the aggression through the music with raw sound and pure punk-power. Short track to get you warmed up.
Unclog your ears because it gets bigger with Whole Lotta Trouble. This song is once again aided by the absolute beast behind the drums, Dave Grohl would be proud buddy. Pacing through the progression, the classic beat for punk is dropped for an alt-rock sound for the verse. The allegro bpm serves well as usual, making it a solid 220V jolt to all of you who have trouble waking up in the morning.
Altering tempos and shuffles
Back in O2 rolls in with a sweet buildup which drops the tempo to make a relatively softer track. The chugging guitar builds to a nice fill which really adds character and suave to a track like this. The dual tone of the guitars is held together nicely with the simple progression. Great alternating between tempos and styles.
Call Stiff Little Fingers, tell them they need to hear this. Lifeboat is a classic punk track, take it from the godfather Iggy or from later rockers like Green Day. The ringing riffs and joint choruses make sure we don’t forget these guys are punk rockers. A fun chorus always equals the crowd joining in. Cool flourishes on the guitar highlight the verse part as well.
Listen to the first 8 seconds of Stay Young Forever and tell me you can’t convince yourself that this is going to be a banger. The buildup is worth it, with a Blink-182 song style delivered to you with matching or more intensity. Great energetic and sonically cohesive track.
Never Ending Bottle is a classic punk approach to some good lyrical delivery. The vocals and chord progression stand out, inspirational and voluminous. The drums stand out during the bridge parts, the simple chords reminding you the guitar music is never dead, alive and well in hidden gems like this.
Renaissance with punk favorites
Miss the chugging intro to punk tracks like Green Day’s Basket Case? DKWTGOA is here to crush your blues with another blast from the past, up your arse. In case you were wondering, the sentiment says Don’t Know Where to Go Out Anymore. The acronym is more than relatable, it might trigger PTSD for some. A perfect quarantine and post-pandemic life anthem, quick and catchy.
Still Shaking team up with Jon Lewis to make Last Time, one of the most powerful songs in the album. The chord progression is more of an alt-rock style riff, but works anyways because it sounds huge. Sounds like a Marshall stack went through Lemmy’s vocal cords. The drums only help, making it a balanced track. Great fun to loop and listen to.
Dropping the tempo (and I mean that in the loosest sense), this track has a pop-punk flavor that MGK seems to be surviving by. The raw power in this track makes it a cathartic number, with a superb chorus. I Remember you keeps the groove steady with these kinds of numbers being churned out.
Pure punk with a side of pickle-included
Panic Jerks is a quick, short track which is what real punk energy is carried by. They think the world is going to end, so the hysteria is warranted. So is the brute force of Husker Du that they seem to have attacked the short track by, because it entertains. Isn’t that what we all are here for?
Bring back the chords of American Idiot and reminisce the power of punk delivery with Like a Rocket. It churns out one of the most recognized progressions of punk rock and rocks it like a champ. The song fuels itself to launch into hyperspeed, taking us for the ride. Raw vocals-check. Pumping drums-check. Oscillating guitar riff-check. Punk rock purist-happy.
Closing out with a relatively soft number, Still Shaking write Alone at Last. Reflecting the forced lost time in everyone’s near past, this prog style rock number hits me in the feels. I enjoyed it because of the honest spectacle that the lyrics are. Simple and straightforward, it closes the album with a poignant pace that mediated itself.
Still Shaking might have had an impressive run, but that’s over. They’re starting something even more exciting, and I for one was overjoyed listening to live instruments sync together like that. This is what punk rock and pop-punk are about, changing times. Who else can give better commentary on it, while being stoically aloof?
Listen to their insanely energetic fuel pack of an album here:
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Discovered via http://musosoup.com
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Self professed metalhead, moderately well read. If the music has soul, it's whole to me. The fact that my bio could have ended on a rhyme and doesn't should tell you a lot about my personality.
