Various - Eastpak Antidote Tour Compilation 2005

  by Adrian Huggins

published: 21 / 1 / 2006

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Before I go any further, it’s worth mentioning that I only received this album a few weeks ago, and I am of course aware that yes it is a compilation from 2005, so it sounds dated already. If you're thinking that, stop being so anum-elistist. It was released at the very end of 2005 for one thing. More importantly, now that we have got that out of the way, is it any good ? Well as far as value for money goes yes, it certainly is. As are most of these kind of compilations, but that remark also points out one of flaws of this album. There are so many already out there, and this is just another one. In terms of the amount of decent bands on it, however, this is a corker. Some of the bigger names include bands like Flogging Molly, Strike Anywhere, No Use for a Name, Hell is for Heroes, and Millencolin. There is also a song which for a while (in Canada anyway), you could not go for 5 hours without hearing which is 'When the Night Feels My Song' by Canadian ska punks, Bedouin Soundclash. This is a really memorable song that in years to come will hopefully bring many people many good memories, rather than the “Nickleback feeling” of hearing a good song so many times that you just hate it. For now though it is a great song that is instantly recognisable. It also serves as a pleasant calm song in amongst all these bouncy or aggressive punk songs. It is worth mentioning the international flavour of this compilation as well. This is not just a bunch of southern Californian bands playing the same kind of stuff. There are Swedes, Irish (kind of), Scots (kind of), and eerrrmm Ukranians… Gogol Bordella, who actually come from New York but whose singer Eugene Hütz is a Ukranian immigrant, are a little strange. On first listen I thought their song was a backing track from a computer game, but it seems not. Second listen. Yes it definitely sounds strange. Third listen…uh oh, I’m dancing. Although it does sound a little bit like a bad euro pop attempt at punk, my inner demons gave in. Go check them out, even just for the fun of it. The other non-Anglo/American contributions like Millencolin are great. 'Farewell My Hell' is the Swedes' offering from their latest album, 'Kingwood', which is a fantastic album and I don’t mind taking this opportunity to big up that album. Its sits perfectly among the other music, although it is one of the highlights rather than just sounding like another band. Keeping on the foreign theme still, we have two Celtic style punk bands on this album in the form of Flogging Molly, representing the better known Irish punk theme, and the Real Mckenzies, playing the lesser well known Scottish punk. Although on a bad day one would be left thinking, well ,if Ireland, or Scotland is so great, why not just go there instead of just singing about how great it is. For example Flogging Molly singer Dave King has been in America for nearly the same amount of years some of the younger bands on this compilation have been on this earth. Cynicism is, however, overrated, and at the end of the day there are few bands that do such great drinking and party punk music as Flogging Molly, so who cares! As for the Real McKenzies, they have been around for about 11 years now, and while aren’t as well known they have a massive underground punk following and their song, 'Smokin’ Bowl' showcases their brand of Scot flavoured punk excellently, bagpipes included. Of course there are few bands that just end up sounding the same with the regular pop-punk trappings of teen style love stories fast paced guitars, ya da, ya da, ya da. Relief, however, comes from bands like Emanuel, Street Dogs, Snitch and My Awesome Compilation, who all play songs that aren’t massively innovative, but they stay in your head for longer than 30 seconds into the song. And of course Hell is for Heroes have yet to write a bad song, as they all display here. All in all there are a great deal of good bands on here, all of which are worth mentioning. This is a good album with a healthy mix of all the styles of punk rather than just one, and is well worth getting your hands on.

Track Listing:-

1 The Loved Ones- 100K
2 Emanuel- Buy American Machines
3 Flogging Molly- Rebels Of The Sacred Heart (Live)
4 Millencolin- Farewell My Hell
5 No Use For A Name- For Fiona
6 Dead Fish- A Urgencia
7 No Children- Point Of Start
8 Strike Anywhere- To The World
9 Ephen Rian- With The Abscence Of Mind
10 The Real McKenzies- Smokin' Bowl
11 Gogol Bordello- Not A Crime
12 Randy- X-Ray Eyes
13 MxPx- Broken Hearts Disease
14 Vanilla Sky- Icecream For Delice
15 SNitch- Fake It
16 Raised Fist- Time Will Let You Go, All Alone And Break
17 The Unseen- You Can Never Go Home
18 Bedouin Soundclash- When The Night Feels My Song
19 The Bleeding Archives- It's Hanging In The Air
20 Hell Is For Heroes- Models For The Programme
21 Street Dogs- Strike A Blow
22 My Awesome Compilation- Put Up A Fight
23 Uncommonmenfrommars- Dinosaur
24 Gas Drummers- Classwar In Blue

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