Can you send a bigger or better signal out into the zeitgeist than this record to usher in a new era for Vinyl Dog Records?! The answer to this question is absolutely not! VD is back, baby, and it burns like the very first day! Aside from releasing two of the best punk LPs of the 1990s, Vinyl Dog quietly spat out some of the best 7"s as well (see my Vinyl Dog retrospective!). The label went dormant for a few years, but apparently, all engines are lit and it's full speed ahead! This is one of two new releases the label has in store for us; the other is a reissue of Stitches frontman (and VD patient zero, Michael Lohrman's) old, pre-Stitches band called FRI. But this 7" here you can file under fresh and crisp! Despite being a newer band, the Nü-Viles sound like they got down and dirty with their influences. It's throat-cutting time, and this band learned the art of the blade from some of the SoCal greats!
It's definitely one thing to sit around and drown yourself in old Posh Boy and Frontier records all day long. But if you're in a band and you want to sound like these records, you're never going to unless you "get it." You gotta be in the mindset; you gotta feel it, live it, and breathe it. The attitude is essential—I can't stress that enough. The Nü-Viles don't sound like a band aping and pining for the past. This band took the essential building blocks and devised their own creation that not only fortifies the future of punk rock, hardcore, and skate punk, but it also solidifies the history of it's influences. This band is not a clumsy, safe, and sanitized tribute; The Nü-Viles dive head first into the black hole and drip their sweat and blood into it.
Say what you will about the future, the state of punk rock, or the new generation. Some of them aren't drowning in a sea of useless social media influencers and consumerism. While some accept the future of a soulless and mundane existence, others strap on their armor and fight against it, regardless of the inevitable outcome. What's that old saying? "It's better to die on your feet than live on your knees." A call to arms if I ever heard one! I get that the new generation is supposed to expand genres and take them to new, uncharted places. But when a formula is sound, why fuss with it? When a machine functions precisely as it's supposed to, why tinker with it? A foundation has been laid that is so rock-solid, it has endured for decades and will continue to do so. The Nü-Viles get all this; that's why they just sharpen their knives on it.
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