Crimpshrine-Sleep, What's That?

As someone who's not afraid of making snap judgements and being closed minded, I'm often quick to dismiss bands. So every once in a while I'll give such bands a second chance. In doing so I've decided that I still think Killing Time sucks , I still think Poison Idea is okay, but overrated and that I was wrong and Born Against is exceptional. Whatever, you live, you learn. I'd rather admit that I was wrong that be one of the many pretenders who likes "everything".

So with that in mind, last week I went to a friends house to clean house on his record collection. He had a copy of Chrimpshrine "Sleep, What's that?", and seeing as how the asking price was one dollar, I threw it in my pile. Crimpshrine is a band that held in extremely high esteem by alot of people with questionable taste in music. Personally, I dismissed them when I had bought the "Quit Talking Claude" ep out of a used bin 8-9 years ago. The "pop-punk" 90's made me a skeptic of the style, and I remember not even making it through the record. I later traded it to a friend for a can of pop. Again, you learn.

There is something that's refreshing about this record, even though it's close to 20 years old. In an age where the majority of new bands seem more interested in dropping obscure references than writing original songs, this "classic" is fresh. The punk scene is now populated with more "experts" than "fans". Everyone has an MP3 library that puts the MRR library to shame. While ideally it's great that young kids have access to every punk record ever, more often than not you end up with "Svart Framtid is my favorite d-beat band"(and 50 people agreeing). It's not even a thirst for knowledge, it's a mania for superiority.

What's my point? Here's a couple hypothetical interview excerpts.

2007 Punk Band
Q. "What are your influences?"
"Well we have very diverse influences, such as Japanese Burning Spirits hardcore, as well as US Hardcore such as Koro, Deep Wound and Vile. Also a bit of Norwegian Hardcore such as Fader War and Akutt Inneggelse"

Hypothetical Crimpshrine Interview
Q. "What are your influences?"
"I don't know, the Ramones?"

And that's how it should be. A bunch of friends getting together to start a "punk band", not trying to meld as many obscure references as possible. Listening to Crimpshrine, there is a sense of urgency, but you can still see the smiles on their faces. Sure, some of the politics expressed in the lyrics are juvenile, and 20 years of people using late-80s Bay Area punk as a "how-to-live" manual have soured me on the enthusiasm expressed. However the idealism is so infectious that even the cynical old fart I've become gets caught up in it. "Maybe I'll feel Different tomorrow".

Somewhere my 17 year old self is shooting himself in the face.