A decade ago Dave Smalley’s then project band, Down By Law, found themselves playing at a birthday party in support of a buzz band from Berkeley by the name of Green Day. Immediately after that gig the band were signed to Epitaph. After numerous albums and countless line up changes the band have released ‘Punkrockdays’, a compilation album drawn from their five Epitaph albums. In other words this is DBL’s greatest hits album. I normally have a problem with so called greatest hits albums. However, the fact that the songs on ‘Punkrockdays’ were chosen by fans, rather than the record label or the band, makes this release a lot more appealing.
Down By Law are a band that inspire great loyalty amongst their fans. They are a band who wear their heart on their sleeve, and this is something that shines through in this collection of songs. DBL write songs about life in general, and do so in such a way that connects easily with the listener. ‘Punkrockdays’ is a collection of punk rock anthems, mixed in with a couple of cracking covers. The one crucial fact is how apparent it is that the band have always stayed true to their musical ideals, never compromising for anyone. ( A lesson that a lot of younger bands would do well to learn!)
The album kicks off with ‘Independence Day’, which proves to be a great album opener, a fast, melodic track that has Dave’s voice in fine form. This is followed by the snotty ‘Flower Tattoo’, and ‘Punk as Fuck’, which sees the band in early Bad Religion Territory. Other notable early tracks are the catchy, yet heartfelt, ‘Burning Heart’ and ‘Right or Wrong’, which features some nice vocal changes.
In my opinion the bands best album to date is ‘All Scratched Up’ and a number of great songs are contributed from it. ‘Gruesome Gary’ is one of the standout tracks on this album. It is a tale about a typical school bully and has a great chorus, mainly due to the infectious gang vocals. ‘Ivory Girl’ and ‘Superman’ further enhance the reputation of the band’s fourth album, and contribute greatly to this release.
Some of the best songs are quite rightly saved until the end. ‘Goodnight Song’ shows the band at their most reflective, ‘1944′ features one of the best guitar riffs the band have produced and ‘500 miles’ is a storming cover of The Proclaimer’s original. The album is rounded off nicely with live favourite ‘Radio Ragga’ and a bonus cover of Big Country’s fantastically titled ‘In a Big Country’.
‘Punkrockdays’ is both a good album in its own right and a great retrospective of DBL’s career on Epitaph. If you are new to the band it is probably the best pace to start your collection. It also manages to shake of the stigma of being a greatest hits package due to the fact the songs were chosen by fans. Whether you voted for a song or not, this is still a great purchase for DBL fans and newcomers alike.
Mark