Reviews

Pistol Pete

Billy Batts & the Made Men My Empire is Crumbling LP

Sixteen shamelessly catchy and pleasantly aggressive pop punk numbers from this Atlanta outfit. I would file this under the dreaded “if you’re into this kind of thing…” heading, but instead I’ll place it in the “I’m not normally into this sort of thing, but…” category. The songs are short, rarely kissing the two-minute mark, and are consistently interesting enough (think PUSRAD erratic mania, just not as fast) that you kinda forget the rote pop punk parts. Joe Queer produced the thing (and that tracks favorably here), and the result hits QUEERS and early Bay Area pop punk buttons nicely while never falling into a rut. A pleasant surprise from Mr. BATTS and his (made) men.

Blue Ricky (BR) LP

Pop punk stuff that has a bit more grime to it than others of this genre. If you’re a fan of ANGRY SAMOANS or the more punk, less bubblegum QUEERS stuff, this would be right up your alley. The cover art GERMS homage is cool, but it could be a potential deterrent for those who are quick to judge a book by its cover. Which would be a shame, because this is a pretty good record.

Billy Batts and the Made Men / Close Encounter No One Knows About the Secret Potato split EP

Hey, April Fool’s! Hahaha…oh shit, this is real. If you’re misty-eyed for the glory days of AVRIL LAVIGNE or SUM 41, look no further than CLOSE ENCOUNTER to fill your soul with some non-edgy, mediocre pop punk. Maybe this shit flies at the mall in suburban South Carolina, but to these ears, it’s weak like a warm Slurpee. Atlanta’s BILLY BATTS ain’t much better, with an almost identical vocal attack that simply makes them a punker version of the previous band. I’ll put them up a notch in punk points to an almost QUEERS or DESCENDENTS category, but man, I’ve always hated the DESCENDENTS. They all look real young and I’ll give it to them for getting out there and doing something, but that’s about it. No more, please.