Pop-punk, and almost every other genre in fact, often treads a thin line between cliché and accessibility. The slightest swerve in a different direction can turn a potential gateway band into yet another well-produced yet uninspiring dirge. There is a point where one too many lyrical stereotypes are fulfilled and a musically well-written record becomes one more run-of-the-mill catalogue of more or less every non-jock teenager’s life experiences. This, sad to say, is where Handguns’ new record, ‘Life Lessons’, falls short of being a good one.
The most irritating thing is that the opening track is a blinder, hinting more at punk than pop. The unembellished guitar tone over flat out drums of ‘Anvil’ promises unpretentious simplicity and energy. Of course, if a record doesn’t draw you in with its first track, it’s difficult to convince people to stick with it. But if it does draw you in, only for the rest of the record to turn out to be a deluge of naïve and done-to-death tales of “the open road” and “letting go of the past”, it is hard not to feel disappointed.
In this day and age, granted, it is difficult to create something that is entirely innovative. The never-ending amount of things that could possibly influence an artist or band is impossible to avoid. However musically competent and sonically sound Handguns, and ‘Life Lessons’, may be, they are flogging a dead horse. In fact, no – they are flogging a horse that is alive and well. Unspectacular pop-punk bands are not difficult to find, but there is a strata of them which, although they are ultimately similar, manage to create their own twist on the genre. Handguns, alas, bring nothing to the table.
The difficulty with records like ‘Life Lessons’ is that, all minor qualms aside, it is a perfectly listenable piece of work. But then, “listenable” is not something to rave about. Give this to anyone under 18, who feels like shit because they are sort of out of place, and they will relate. But then most people under 18 feel shit at some point, and some of them relate to One Direction. If you can burrow through and emerge from endless cliché (you only need to Google “pop punk drinking game”) then it’s altogether alright to listen to. But once you encounter bands that are at the very least more eloquent about how they express their frustration with the world, bands like Handguns become redundant.
CHRIS MIFSUD