MxPx have been together a long time – a
very long time in fact. They formed back in 1992 while still in high school and have had only one personnel change in their 16 years of existence. That was Tom Wisniewski replacing founding member Andy Husted on guitar in 1995. Since then they have recorded ten albums, of which 2005’s ‘Panic’ was the eighth. The album was the first to be released since ‘Before Everything & After’, an album that left many long time MxPx fans disillusioned with the band’s sudden change in style. MxPx had always considered themselves as a ‘Punk’ band of sorts, being influenced by bands such as The Descendents. But just how punk is a band that provides the soundtrack to the Scooby Doo movie anyways?
MxPx play the type of ‘punk’ that you would expect to hear from the band playing the house party in American teen-movies. In other words, their music is lively, fun and inoffensive, yet with a fresh-faced
rebel attitude. It certainly isn’t punk, say, in the style of a band such as Rise Against, but it also isn’t pop-punk like Paramore. It is fairly in between the two different styles, and on ‘Panic’ favouring the pop end of the spectrum. The band had garnered a fair bit of media attention leading up to the album’s release, with So Cal radio station KROQ playing their single
‘Heard That Sound’ frequently. It was a great song to release as it is very representative of the album – simple, yet importantly catchy and upbeat. That song is basically everything that you should expect from ‘Panic’. While it is a very good song in its own right, when there are plenty of other near carbon copies of it in the album, its effect is greatly reduced. This in turn reduces the effect of the other songs on the album.
Of course there are a few minor exceptions to this statement. Album closer
‘This Weekend’ is slightly less energetic than its thirteen predecessors, with its 6/8 time signature having a hypnotic, dream-like effect on the listener. Even more laid back is
‘Wrecking Hotel Rooms’. Still, this track does little to deviate from the pop-punk template set up by the rest of the album, as it is essentially just an MxPx song toned down in favour of guitars that sound like they are bordering on semi-acoustic. Immediately following, and contrasting ‘Wrecking Hotel Rooms’ is the upbeat, country-esque
‘Late Again’ complete with up-tempo-bluesy guitar solos. It is one of the more enjoyable songs on the album, purely because of the variation that it offers.
However, these three songs aside, there is precious little variation on the album and at times this can make it too repetitive. This is especially true with songs such as
‘Kicking and Screaming’. Not only does it share a title with a childish Will Ferrell film (it’s not a crime to not like his sense of humour!) but it is also a poor song. Its distorted guitar intro is a false attempt at being more punk than the rest of the album, but is essentially an irritating pop-punk tantrum. The same can be said for
‘Get Me Out’. Like ‘Kicking and Screaming’ it is a failed attempt at being more hardcore than their radio-friendly pop-punk songs suggest, plus its chorus is incredibly uninspired – (“Get Me Out! Get Me Out! Etc.) The thing is though, that there is absolutely nothing wrong with ‘Panic’s more
radio-friendly songs, as tracks such as the keyboard driven
‘Grey Skies Turn Blue’ and the ironically chirpy
‘Young and Depressed’ are amongst the best songs on the album.
While another album of more mainstream pop-punk may have displeased members of MxPx’s fanbase, ‘Panic’ is filled with the best type of mainstream pop-punk – the kind that is
not annoying. Hell, at times this album could be described as pure, unadulterated fun. That is the main thing here – the album is
fun. There is no fancy musicianship, while the band incorporating genres such as country and instruments such as keyboards and Hammond organs adds a nice touch of musicality to an album that was in serious danger of becoming very, very dull. What makes ‘Panic’ dull is that apart from a few exceptions, the album is void of variation. Most, if not all of the songs here follow the template set by the single ‘Heard That Sound’ a little too closely at times. This would normally be a fairly small complaint, but it happens on ‘Panic’ to such an extent that it does start to detract from the quality of the album. Therefore, ‘Panic’ is an album that can only really be enjoyed every now and then, and of course – when the sun is shining.
