What a life Mike Park must live. Not only is he the head of the phenomenally successful Asian Man Records, run out of his garage, he also fronts The Chinkees. To many The Chinkees name would be seen as a radical slur. However, in this case the band have chosen their name to look directly at racism and its presence in the world today. ‘Plea For Peace’ is a best of compilation drawn from The Chinkees previous three albums, and is only available to those of us living in Europe. As usual 10% of the bands royalties go to the Plea for Peace Foundation.
The Chinkees play a mix of ska, rocksteady and punk, complete with a Hammond organ. True to their ideals, the band cover topics that are important not just to them, but to all the inhabitants of this world. The twenty-one songs on display talk about hard hitting subjects like the Korean War, political consciousness, and of course Racism. In an era when so-called punk bands increasingly shy way from politics and human issues, The Chinkees remind us what can be accomplished through music, and what has been accomplished in the past by bands like the Specials and Operation Ivy.
However, whilst there is no denying the power behind The Chinkees message, they also have to be judged on their music, and in this area things are not quite as strong. At times the band can produce some catchy and impressive ska songs, notably on ‘Noise Around’ and ‘Another Angry Man He Goes To War’. Despite these high points, though, much of this trawl through The Chinkees career is nothing more than average ska-punk. The likes of ‘X-Mas’ and ‘Those Years’ don’t really give the listener much to get excited about. There are also other points when Park‘s vocals aren’t quite strong enough to carry some of the weaker tracks. At the end of the album you are just left with a feeling that the band don’t quite have the songs to do themselves justice.
The Chinkees then are strong on moral sentiment, but weaker on actual song substance – powerful messages, coupled with average ska-punk. This isn’t a bad album by any means, it just fails to create a lasting musical impression and stand out from a host of similar artists.
Mark