The Spiky Tops

Reviews

Oi!takus / The Spiky Tops Operation Pogo split EP

Listen, I know I’m only supposed to focus on the music here, but I need to get something off my chest, because I see this happening more and more and if this review can help change even one mind then my job is done. If you choose to do a split with another band, it completely defeats the purpose of doing it if you upload both halves to different Bandcamp accounts. It even makes less sense if you don’t link the listener to the other side within the same page. The whole idea of a split is to expose your listeners to a completely different band. If I have to actively search where to find the flipside of a record, then the experiment has failed. With that being said, OI!TAKUS plays a generic form of neckbeard street punk chock-full of anime references, and SPIKY TOPS play a generic form of power pop street punk chock-full of your typical punk tropes, and both bands sound like the type of punk act you’d see on some Nickelodeon show like iCarly. Seems like they had fun, though.

The Spiky Tops Let’s Go! Pogo! EP

I mean, look at the cover. You already know. The songs are snotty and beer-fueled BLANKS 77, the CASUALTIES, the PIST, and the QUEERS-flavored punk rock. Sometimes in their photos, they have spiked-up hair, so I wonder if the name SPIKY TOPS comes from that. The songs are brimming with energy. The lyrics, although a little formulaic, are honest and heartfelt. For example, in the song “Going Down to the Bar,” I really believe that the guy wants to meet up with me and go down to the bar. Furthermore, in the song “Let’s Go Pogo,” I feel like the SPIKY TOPS want me to go pogo somewhere. This is a catchy, hands-in-the-air, chuggin’ 40oz of beers or seltzers music, and when they sing “Party till your guts spill out” in the song “Party Till Your Guts Spill Out,” I know that these folks would be laughing as they hold my hair back while my guts spilled out of my mouth.