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The A.K.A.S

White Doves and Smoking Guns

Label: Sore Point Records Release Date: 14/06/2004

Mike_Diver by Mike Diver May 20th, 2004

The A.K.A.S are angry. "About what?" you may ask. Everything.

If the US government ever pulled its fingers out of its collective ears long enough to listen to what the world of rock and roll had to say about its behaviour, it'd likely curl up into a ball and sob itself to sleep. NOFX's Fat Mike has been at them, 800-or-so other bands have followed, and now NYC's The A.K.A.S fancy a pop. 'White Doves...' is lyrically-typical of politically-influenced music - this is bad, this isn't, ad infinitum - but what sets them apart from so many other punk rockers with some shit to lay on the White House lawn is that they've set their well-meant words to some killer, keyboard-heavy pop-punk hooks; imagine something like The (International) Noise Conspiracy jamming Less Than Jake covers and you've the right idea. Should their revolution ever come it'll be sugar-coated, such is the playful pop beneath the punk aesthetics here, but that's to be applauded. The lyrics are delivered clearly enough for even the most cloth-eared pop-punk kid to catch on to, and such saccharine subversion should only be encouraged. "I'll take summer tours and power chords..." states vocalist Mike Ski on 'The Best Way To Beat A Mid-Life Crisis (Is To Be Dead)'; with a debut like this, he'll be swamped with offers.

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