Zebrahead have been knocking around for almost 20 years now, but we don’t associate them with the long lasting, ever successful punk names like Green Day. Why not? Racing pop ska punk isn’t for everyone but Zebrahead’s new album ‘Walk The Plank’ is a good ‘un.
Over a career of that length, you’d expect a band’s sound to have changed at least a little. Not for these guys. Their cheeky lyrics and front men double act of Ali Tabatabaee and Matty Lewis is as unsurprisingly loveable as ever.
Album starter ‘Who Brings A Gun To A Knife Fight’ is a tongue in cheek, three minute race through a cross between a ninja film theme tune and a fist-pumping party anthem. ‘Running With Wolves’ also does what Zebrahead do best: dancing guitars, skipping drums and vocals with a hell of a lot of attitude.
“I know things will get better cos they just can’t get any worse than this,” aren’t the kind of lyrics you’d expect from a band who are approaching middle age, but the catchy melody of ‘Worse Than This’ alongside Tabatabaee’s rapping steers the song towards a pop hit, avoiding any cringe-worthy moments.
‘Save Your Breath’ is a sarcastically angry anthem that shouldn’t be taken too seriously. Throw in a woah-oah and you’ve got the perfect formula for a you-used-to-be-an-angsty-teenager-but-now-you’re-an-angsty-grown-up anthem.
No track sounds the same as another. Title track ‘Walk The Plank’ is worlds away from follow-up ‘Under The Deep Blue Sea’: one sounds like a Gogol Bordello jig while the other is one and a half minutes of attention grabbing, atmospheric sounds that could fill an arena. Diverse and different, it makes for an exciting album.
What’s most satisfying of all is how, rather than attempting to grow up or be mature with their latest record, Zebrahead have stuck to their guns and kept their sound energetic, fun and enticing. They’re sounding better than a lot of the pop punk bands of the 00s. It’s only going to sound even better live in a sweaty, frantic venue.
KATHRYN BLACK