TEENAGE CASKET COMPANY

BEST KEPT SECRET

JAMSYNC MUSIC

RELEASED 2011

It’s been a long wait since Teenage Casket Company released their debut ‘Dial It Up’ back in 2005. A lot has happened since then and rather than take up review space with the history let’s just say that this new release is really a re-launch for what should be a name on everyone’s lips. Teeming up with America’s Jamsync Music TCC is reborn and ready for a second chance at the big time they so richly deserve! Don’t believe me? Then check this out! And whilst you are at it check out our interview with Rob (CLICK HERE) who will fill you in on the new CD and the TCC back-story.

So what do we have here then? Well essentially it’s a revamped, reworked, repackaging of the best of TCC’s debut along with tracks from their hard to find 2006 ‘Eat Your Heart Out’ EP along with a killer new song and lead track ‘Best Friend Is My Radio’. 

For a statement of intent and re-birth then you don’t get much better than ‘Best Friend Is My Radio’ it’s immediate, hook-heavy and will stay with you after just a single listen. Imagine a sleazier Enuff Z’Nuff or a poppier Wildhearts. You’d be hard pushed to find a better written-for-radio punky, anthemic, sing-along this year. Musically you have to sit back and wonder how these guys failed to catch a ride to the A-list first time around. This is an album made to rock out to, whether at US college parties or down at your local live venue. 

The songs collected here definitely are the best TCC has put out, and remastered and rescheduled the track-listing just doesn’t let up. By the end of the album you will think you’ve heard these songs before, they seem like old friends and the hook are so big they lodge in your head and don’t let you go.

As I said before some of us have always been convinced by TCC. I for one hoped to catch them before they hit it big and the guys hit many a ‘must see’ and ‘best of the month’ list yet somehow the stars didn’t line up. A few years older and wiser and with what I’m told is an incendiary live show that lets the music do the talking they are ready again and this time just maybe, if the wind is in the right direction…
So if you like a bit of Glam, Pop, Punk and Sleaze, get on board and enjoy the perfect 80’s infused pop rock that hints at everyone from Cheap Trick and the Ramones to newer players like Marvellous 3; but that is distinctively TCC. It’s personally hard for me to pick favourites here as the collection is so solid but you’ll love the new track and songs like 'Don't Look at Me Like That' (check out the YouTube). Elsewhere ‘Cocaine’ almost strays into Def Leppard meets eighties power-pop in a good way; ‘Thank you For Nothing’ punks it up Wildhearts style; and ‘Believe in You’ offers a more sensitive side to show they can do the big ballad the way they did in the late 80’s.

For me though it’s the sleaze of songs like ‘One Thing you Don’t Need’ and closer ‘Ain't Got Nothin' On Me’ that really bring it home. Nothing not to love here!

If you’ve never heard of Teenage Casket Company then check them out, to be honest you’re lucky because then you get to relive what I heard back in 2005 – a great band, not to be missed this time round.

By Mark Diggins